Advogato blog for mysticone

11 Mar 2003

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 07:12:36 GMT

Yeah, I know ... it's been a *long* time. I tend to do that with online journals/diaries. Heck if I know why, but I forget about them for the longest amounts of time and then finally think about them and update them a few months later.

I'd like to start this entry off thanking raph for recovering my password for me. It'd been so long that I'd forgotten it. So, thanks raph! Keep up the good work on advogato and your other projects!

So, let's see if the little demons at school read this one. Yes, you know you who are! Hehehehe. Right now I'm teaching high school part time... a web design course and a Linux course. Some of the students in the Linux course found my LiveJournal (as if it's that hard...), and proceeded to comment on it in class one day. :) Oh well. Maybe at least if they're reading advogato, they'll get a sense of what goes on in the free software community and become more interested in it. They're a bunch of good kids, and are doing pretty well learning Linux.

Freenode Radio is going really well too. We changed our name recently, though, as we emerged from what we consider our alpha testing stages into the beta testing. We're not 24/7 yet, but for good reason. It's been said that others have gotten 24/7 streams going in under 3 weeks. Good for them! But, we're not having technical issues on 24/7 streams. We want live, personal, human influenced content. Having a playlist up all the time is no better than what commercial radio stations do, free music or not. So, we're marching steadily toward that goal.

Hmmmm... gah, why is it that when I take the time to sit down and update these things, I can't think of what I wanted to talk about? Oh well. I'll talk about Star Trek Enterprise some. Have been going back over and watching almost all the episodes from the beginning. I really didn't like that show at first... it just didn't seem right. But the more I watch it, the more addicted I get. I just wish I had a PVR still ... so I could record them and save them on my box.

Oh! I know who I need to talk about... my good friend ChipX86 Everyone needs to poke and prod him and get him working more on gnupdate and gaim. He obviously has *way* too much free time on his hands, and needs more work to do. So get him working! We need a nice sane packaging system, and we need an IM client that doesn't suck. But to have that, it has to support file transfers! :)

I guess I'll leave it there now. If I think of anything else, I'll post some more. So with that, I'll conclude with "Moo".

19 Oct 2002

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 08:09:11 GMT

Wow. I feel kinda bad... I forgot I had this journal here. Hehehehe, oh well, there aren't any massive changes going on in my life at the moment I don't think. The new job is still going well (is it still new after more than a month?), most things are pretty good. Having a few money problems, but nothing that we can't handle right now which is good.

I will say, though, I'm having the weirdest issues with OpenGL and a few other graphics intensive things in X. Like, I can play OpenGL games with no problem ... but attempt to use any OpenGL screensavers or OpenGL xmms plugins, poof, slower than molasses. Very strange, IMHO, and all the settings and libs that I'm supposed to have are correct and installed.

On another note, WOPN is still developing pretty well. We slowed expansion for a while, and are working on solidifying our format and acquiring more artists. But things are still going well, and I'm happy with the direction it's taking.

Oh! And on the subject of music ... I received my Squaredance album a few days ago, from Project Majestic Mix. Guys, if you like the music from most of Square's games, and want some damn good professionally done remixes and rearrangements, you've gotta get this album. This sits on the shelf right next to my Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu album that I bought from the same guys a few months earlier. They've done great work, so show them your support. :)

19 Sep 2002

Thu, 19 Sep 2002 01:48:50 GMT

Hi everyone. Not too terribly much that's new (I think I always start off my entries saying that or something similar). Unfortunately, I don't live the most exciting or adventurous life. I get by, though, on the minimal excitement I do get. :) I'm probably going to be teaching a Linux class at school in January (almost definite now), and the teacher I work with is working to see if I can take a full-time position as a teacher next year, rather than just part-time as I am now. I really enjoy what I do, so I hope it works out for the best.

On a side note, and if you want to flame me for this, you're wasting your time because I'm not going to respond to you, if anyone out there that uses Freenode has some money they could spare, please consider donating it to the Peer-Directed Projects Center, the non-profit organization (based in Texas, USA) that sponsors Freenode. We have a number of projects that we're writing up plans for, including more development on the network, the IRC protocol, and something new, WOPN, Freenode Radio which is already in progress but is working on expansion, employment services for free software / open source community project leaders, possible grants or scholarships for young free software developers, and a number of other projects that are yet to take much shape. Unfortunately the nature of some people has prevented us from asking for donations on our network, and thus we must use word-of-mouth and the Freenode website. Right now donations have stopped cold (they actually did when we stopped the fundraising announcements, so obviously it was working and a good number of people didn't mind them and contributed). We can't expand into new areas without support from the people that utilize the network that we strive hard to maintain. So, anyway, if there's any way any of you can help us out or contribute something, it's definately appreciated.

Welp, back to web design and lesson plans. If anyone knows of a good text book to use for a beginner Linux class (I've been told the O'Reilly ones are really good for it), let me know so I can get more ideas for the Linux course. Thanks!

12 Sep 2002

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 01:35:56 GMT

In response to DanielS, what I said was that a lot of people have seen the US as a place that's different from third world countries. If people did not perceive it in this way, or at least better than where they were, I don't think we'd have the staggering number of immigrants that we have. Unfortunately, after September 11th, many of these people have realized or will realize that the US isn't that much different after all. It has a pretty face, but a lot of things are just as they always are everywhere because it's a nation of humans, and humans have universal problems.

If you want to attempt to insult my knowledge of my country's history, or think that I'm saying my country is perfect, well ... you're incorrect in those assumptions. But hey, at least I have the freedom to criticize my own country and government, eh? Many people throughout the world don't even have that. By the way, I said a refuge from the crap that goes on *outside* our country, in other countries. Technically speaking, even if every bad thing in the rest of the world that happens is our fault, it still doesn't usually happen here, and my statement is proven. :)

11 Sep 2002

Wed, 11 Sep 2002 23:40:28 GMT

Well, it's been a year. Doesn't quite seem like it ... I can remember pretty vividly walking into work that morning to load up a news website and see that the first plane had hit one of the towers. I didn't believe it at first, but turning on the news, well, that confirmed it. Anyway ...

It's sad. It's not just sad for Americans, though, it's sad for everybody. Firstly, it's sad for the families of all the innocents who died because of the actions of nations and governments. Secondly, it's sad for all the people who've put up with this type of thing for so long, because though the United States seemed to be a refuge from the messed up crap that went on in the rest of the world, that is no longer true.

I have to say that in some cases, I don't even blame the terrorists. Well, not for giving their lives for a cause at least. In some ways I almost wish more people had that sort of drive, that they were going to make something happen even if they had to sacrifice themselves to do it. But this whole thing was wrong ... the causes and the effects, and it's a sad, sad thing for all of humanity and the civilized world.

Now, though, I think we need to remain ever vigilant. While I think the administration really means well... I don't think they're doing what's best for us and the rest of the world. We have to watch our rights and freedoms, we have to exercise what we have and take control of the situation here in our country, and ultimately work on our relations with the world. I think the world really misunderstands individual Americans and American ideals, taking what the government says or does as what the entire American people want or feel. But, I think we misunderstand many of the other countries, cultures, religions, as well. It's definately something we're going to have to work on.

At least throughout all of this, we do have the Internet. As my wife, Melinda, pointed out the other day ... it's the one place that we can exist where we're nationless, we're borderless, and it doesn't matter where you came from or what religion you are. We're all equal there.

So, my condolences go out to those who have suffered because of the terrorists attacks one year ago. But my condolences also go out to everyone in the world who's had their families stolen, their hearts broken, their spirits crushed because of what some stupid nation felt it had to do. Today should be a day when we mourn the loss of all life because of this sort of tragedy, and learn from the past mistakes of governments. You can only look forward to the future, but you can use the past to guide you.

4 Sep 2002

Wed, 4 Sep 2002 16:51:48 GMT

*sighs* I'm reading a few peoples diaries here on Advogato, and I really just can't believe the immaturity of some of these people. Is it some shared mentality in the geek community that you have to lash out at things or people you don't like? I think the spirit of the free software and open source communities has been damaged in the past few years. I dunno...

I mean, look at Linux. Linux started because Linus didn't think Minix was the best system for the job. So he worked on it and came out with a superior product of his own. He didn't, at least not to my knowledge, flame the guy that wrote Minix all day long. He didn't condemn people for using Minix, he didn't do any of that crap. That's childish, it's immature, and it's actually the face that everyone sees now when you look at the community. They see this attitude where if you don't like something, don't bother making something better yourself. Just bitch and moan about it until you piss enough people off to get them to quit working on their project or to hand it over to you. This is pathetic.

Oh well, enough with that rant. I'm happy with the way the new job is going, and there's a good chance I'll be teaching a Linux class come January. This is great, because currently the only other place you can take a Linux course in the area is at the local community college. We're also going to be working to get students and teachers here at the school using Linux. I think a lot of what we'll be doing is going to be from the LTSP and the k12LTSP guys. They've got some good products out there and have done a lot of work. So hopefully we'll be able to start our mass conversion of the school systems now. :) I'll keep everyone posted.

29 Aug 2002

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 04:53:38 GMT

More of the same for today I guess. I started my new job pretty much into full swing, and I'm really excited about it so far. I'll be teaching high school students a variety of tech related subjects for two classes a day ... and as well, I'll be able to work on other projects that relate to the technology division of the high school. The teacher that I'm working with is a great guy, and he's really interested in deploying Linux throughout their department as well. So, I'm quite happy! Not sure how it's all going to pan out, but it definately looks positive from today.

Did a WOPN broadcast tonight and have a few more listeners that are working to help us have even more diverse content. I think this is going to be even better in the future if we can appeal to most every musical taste out there. Hey, if you happen to be an artist out there that believes in independent/free music, and you'd like to get a bit of air (or wire?) time on our station, give me an e-mail and we'll talk to see if we can get you on the station. Anyway ... sleep for now.

27 Aug 2002

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 04:18:25 GMT

Well ... today is the day I finally start an advogato account. Never really had one before, but I guess I've just expanded to the point that it makes sense. Oh well, let's see how it goes!