Month: April 2008

How to Make People Love Linux

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I wrote this for Linux Journal — but it’s something that I’m pretty passionate about, so I’m reposting here:

There are two kinds of Linux people in the world, those that will help people fix their Windows spyware problems, and those that will not. I land squarely in the former camp, and I think that it’s important for us all to consider doing the same.

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Tux: Possibly Permanent

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Many of you know that we have a Silky Terrier named Tux. He’s cute. He’s affectionate. He’s travel sized.


He’s also not housebroken.

I don’t require too many things from our pets, but proper bathroom habits ranks near the top of the list. In fact, there remains a distinct possibility that Tux, awesome namesake or not, won’t remain a member of the Powers’ household. He has until the end of summer.

Thankfully, last night, he made it through the night without desecrating our home. This pleased me greatly. It was actually 2 nights in a row, so I see some hope.

Go Tux Go! (but like, go outsite and stuff)

Well, it’s Workin’

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I’m not totally thrilled about the new theme, but for a day or so, this is what we’ve got. It’s 1:30, and I’m tired. 🙂

The good news is that I’m now managing the updates, etc, now. Hopefully I can manage to avoid most wonkiness in the future. We’ll see.

G’night.

My Site is Teh Brok3

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My site has several layers of brokedness to it, and thus will be killed, roasted, and eaten this evening. I will likely have downtime. I will likely have problems. I’m planning for total chaos, and hoping to be surprised. Wish me luck.

I think this is my karmic punishment for meme tagging. Thanks Nathan. 😀

The Death of Memes

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Henceforth, all memes shall die here. I’m all about playing silly Internet games, but “tagging” is much like chain mail, and people don’t seem to take kindly to such things.

SO, that means all memes shall be officially voluntary, and never to be pressured in any regard whatsoever. Any previous, “tagging” shall be redacted, and future taggers will be flogged. Well, actually the taggers I don’t really mind, but the right to flog me is bequeathed on anyone I might tag in the future.

But still, I retain my right to respond to any and all memes I desire, because I often find such silliness fun. So there.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane… Nope, it’s a Meme.

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Nathan tagged me with a “6 Unimportant Things” meme. I have the odd position of sorta liking these type things, while completely understanding why they annoy the crap out of people. So now, I need to come up with 6 things, and then tag 6 people. It’s the latter that I feel bad about doing. But, since I did prank call Nathan once, it seems only fair that I be a good sport. 🙂 So here ya go:

Rules:

  1. Link to the person who tagged you.
  2. Post the rules.
  3. Write six things about yourself.
  4. Tag six people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
  5. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their sites.
  6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

And now my list:

  1. My right foot is turned out slightly. This mutation give me no super powers, nor does it really hinder me in any way. It’s very unlikely said mutation would qualify me as one of the X-MEN.
  2. My first car was a 1978 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel. I paid $250 for it, and would gladly pay 10 times that much for the same vehicle now. I didn’t know what glow plugs were at the time, and I think it would have made the experience much nicer if I had.
  3. I’m absolutely terrified of bees. It’s one of those fears that you’d think would be funny to tease about, but I’m so scared, it really wouldn’t be fun. It just isn’t fun watching a grown man cry.
  4. I prefer driving a vehicle with a manual transmission. Maybe it’s a power-trip control issue. Maybe it’s just that I like to keep busy while driving. Whatever the reason, I like ’em better.
  5. I like hot tea and cold tea. I like hot coffee, but think cold coffee concoctions are horrible abominations
  6. I wear mismatched socks on every occasion I can. I’ve mentioned this before, but it remains true. I find it very difficult to take life too seriously while wearing one purple sock and one green one.

Now I have to tag people. I’m sorry I have to do this, but I’ll try to tag people that will forgive me. I suspect they won’t all actually participate, but I don’t think they’ll disown me either:

REDACTED. See above post.

Sorry guys & gals. 🙂

Amanda at the Talent Show

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Last night was a talent show in our district for all kids between the 5th and 12th grade. That’s a huge age bracket, but it didn’t stop my 11 year old 5th grader from entering. I’m biased to a degree that almost negates the validity of my comments, BUT she was awesome. 🙂 Also important to note, is that almost every other singer in the competition sang with the regular artist’s CD, and effectually “sang along with the radio version.” That’s not to downplay anyone’s performance, just to express how proud of Amanda I am for singing to the music-only version of the song. See for yourself Amanda singing Krystal Meyers’ “Beauty of Grace”, and let her know in the comment section whatcha think:

UPDATE: If the youtube video above is blocked, try going here instead…

The Internet is Slo[connection lost]

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I’m here at the Penguicon, and day 2 is going swimmingly better than day 1 did. The only downside is that I can’t seem to get a decent Internet connection. It may have something to do with the million geeks all sharing the same DSL line — but still, it’s frustrating.

So far today, I had a “lobby room discussion” with John and Krissy Scalzi, and also with Randall Monroe (of XKCD). Benjamin Mako Hill agreed to do an interview with me later, AND I think I’m having sushi for dinner. What a day!

In all honesty though, I really do miss my family like crazy. Since the Internet connection is so poor, we weren’t able to Skype well last night either, so I didn’t get my fix. So this is for my family, but y’all can watch: