Time for Steampunk

I’ve been getting interested in the whole “Steampunk” thing for a while now and enjoy reading peoples “recommended” films for steampunkians but i’ve been constantly surprised that no one has nominated the 1960′s version of HG Wells “The Time Machine” As a child I marveled at its construction and even now 40 years later think its a gorgeous example of Victorian engineering, science, and art which of course is central to the steampunk theme.
Modern “Time Machine” builders take note.

The Time Machine (1960)

Technorati Tags: steampunk, time, machine, hg wells

Why are people rude when I ask a question or How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

There have been a couple of occasions when I have been told of someone having a bad experience when asking for help with a Linux distribution or program, it’s certainly unfortunate if it puts people off the FREE software community in general, so, think carefully before shouting at a “noob” for being stupid, we all started out with a little knowledge that we have built on, lets not forget that.

HOWEVER

I came across this excellent article by Eric Raymond that might help these new users understand how to get the best response when asking questions in forum’s etc. and you could refer some of these “noobs” or “newbies” to this article.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Technorati Tags: How To Ask Questions, Eric Raymond, FREE software

We want to be FREE, FREE to do what we want to do – Read Linux Magazine

I was reading up on Fedora Remixes and Respins and came across this article at Linux Magazine and was able to empathise with the writer regarding helping people switch to a new operating system.
Nip across and read the full article if you often find yourself having similar discussions with users new to Linux and FREE software. I know I do and I thought it might be worth referring them to this post;
Omega: Fedora For The Rest of Us | Linux Magazine

There are many opposing camps in the Linux world. There are those who believe that all proprietary drivers and non-free software should be welcomed and that users’ data should be accessible in any format, even if closed source and patent encumbered. The other side of the fence believe in the use of only free codecs, file formats and free software, to prevent vendor lock-in and ensure the user remains in control of their information.

This sort of issue illustrates a major difference between many of the popular distros today. While Fedora focuses on the best free software available, ensuring your data is free and accessible, others want to ensure everything works at the cost of continued reliance on non-free codecs. The former perspective has helped to make some extremely successful, especially for users new to Linux, but where does it leave us in the long run?

The problem is that many new users don’t have a firm grasp on the concept of free culture. As such, they come from a world where proprietary data formats and closed source applications is the norm. For these users, a majority of their data will be inaccessible by default should they switch to a free-software only focused Linux distribution. So what to do?

I’m certainly on the fence on this one, I really do believe that the “FREE as in FREEDOM” is what makes Linux such a superb operating system but I would need to re-encode all my music and video to FREE formats for instance and that’s quite a daunting challenge, perhaps someone could advise on a way to do that in Bulk.

Technorati Tags: Linux Magazine, FREE as in FREEDOM, Fedora, Respins, Remixes,

Want a laugh ? how about some Fruity file sharing ?

Nirma Institute of Management Free Netcop UTM and to block ultrasurf

“Which also helped the IT staff to restrict the users with Pear to Pear traffic and illegal mp3 downloads. “

Tasty

Free Stuff – Issue of Linux Journal – Tips, Tricks, Reviews, How To’s

I like Free things, I particularly like Free knowledge and you can’t beat Free Linux knowledge, so pop across to Linux Journal’s website and
Download a Free Issue of Linux Journal

Stolen boats

wooden fens boat on eBay (end time 07-Mar-10 12:19:03 GMT)

Watch out for this guy, he tried to rip me off but seems it backfired on him. He is called “2010Boatservices” watch out.

Technorati Tags: ebay, fen, boat, broads, cruiser

Amazon & Microsoft what a pair of Trolls

Hahahahahaha, ooooh, hahahaha oh dear 6.45am is not the time for trolls, do your worst you pathetic companies.

Amazon, Microsoft sign patent deal | Beyond Binary – CNET News

Microsoft has maintained that many implementations of Linux infringe on its patents and has signed numerous licensing deals that cover Linux with both companies that sell Linux-based software and those that use the operating system in their hardware.

Black Hat say no to Linux

“Black Hat Webcast Series – Exploiting Lawful Intercept to Wiretap the Internet” for Windows or Mac only it would seem

Technorati Tags: black hat, exploit, windows, mac, linux

I searchin’ every week day away

Except on Ebay, just trying to find a badge maker, badge making machinery etc.  and the search function seems to be broken, anyone else having problems with it ?

Hi, My names Google and i’ve gone mad

Google, NSA may team up over cyberattacks: report – Yahoo! News

“Google is finalizing a deal that would let the National Security Agency help it investigate a corporate espionage attack that may have originated in China”
Now that’s interesting, Google are getting a lot of flak over privacy issues for sharing our data, either willingly (marketing) or unwillingly (cracking), so to put our minds at rest they have teamed up with “the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization” um, makes me feel much better, anybody tried Yauba ? apart from all the returned results that reference documents that are all in proprietory formats, it’s an interesting way to have your resuls displayed, give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Google, NSA, cyberattacks, china, yauba, privacy