Simply stated, liberals have a better vision of what the world should look like, but are generally incapable of developing policies consistent with getting us there. This is becaue their approach to problem-solving is based on the their ideals, and is therefore impotent in a reality governed by primal instincts.

Conservatives, on the other hand, are rather efficient when it comes to acheiving goals, but they tend to strive for a world that is markedly non-ideal. Necessarily, this entails a fairly homoegeneous population with unified beliefs, usually aligned via religious dogma. While attractive and tidy, this paradigm seeds conflict throughout the world and is ultimately untenable.

I am something of a hybrid. I believe the liberal ideal is best, but that “conservative” policies and approaches must be employed in order to keep society healthy during its youth. Without this, civilization will simply deteriorate into chaos. A good example of such a hybrid policy would be requiring students to wear uniforms in public schools for a predetermined length of time.

On the outside this is conservative and restrictive, i.e. anti-liberal, but ultimately any liberal society requires an educated population. So in reality, not implementing such systems is the easiest path toward extreme conservatism. Why? Because the more uneducated a given population is, the more totalitarian the government must be in order to maintain order.

This “conservative approach to liberalism” is precarious, to be sure, but I think it’s the only answer.:

I know you don’t believe me, as we’ve had this conversation before. But there will come a time in your life when you will grow tired of fixing your tools. This will likely lead you to Windows or OS X — both of which, if you avoid tweaking, offer much more stability through updates and patches than Linux desktops do.

So again, let me restate my blasphemous claim:

Linux desktops are currently still for hobbyists and tweakers, i.e. those who enjoy tinkering constantly with the very platform that they work from. Those who wish to actually work — in an uninterrupted fashion through multiple, major updates — are left with the options of either installing an extremely stable, non-cutting-edge distribution and not updating any pivotal packages, or going with an alternative operating system.

In short, I equate “fixing” my operating system with “repairing” a hammer: I might do it once, but the second time the head pops off while I’m trying to work — it’s getting replaced.

I know a number of Linux desktop fans that consider Windows and OS X to be the “dirty” options for a number of reasons, but virtually every time I speak with them I get another reinstall story. They’re constantly repairing this or that in order to get the experience they want. And again, if that’s what’s fun for them, and they enjoy hacking their system and making cool new features work, then that’s awesome. In that case I think Linux is the ultimate desktop.

But for those who just want to work, I find that even my friends who love the Linux desktop more than anything are constantly frustrated with it. You take something like Ubuntu — it’s designed from the ground up to be a stable desktop. I have a friend that uses it and complains constantly about the fact that if you update it enough it breaks. The solution, if you want stability from it, is to basically not touch the thing and wait for the next version to get new features.

So from me to you, I ask you to probe your own thoughts on the matter. Do you want to use your system as a transparent tool to accomplishing something, or do you want your system to be in the forefront — constantly requiring your attention because this feature isn’t working right, or that part just broke after an update? If the answer is the latter, I’ll just shut up, because that’s obviously perfectly legitimate. But if it’s the former I ask you to take another look at your OS choice on the desktop.

I know a guy who’s been doing hardcore C programming for 25 years, and is an absolute Unix GOD — but he uses Windows for his operating system. Why? Because he has work to do, and he doesn’t want his OS getting in the way.:

– Edit: I probably should have pointed out that I am an avid Linux advocate. I am a member of the Free Software Foundation and give to my distro regularly. The site you are looking at is running on Gentoo, actually — a distro I’ve been using since 2002. At work I use Ubuntu Linux as my primary operating system, and while I’m no super-guru, I’m decently versed in Linux in general. In short, my comments come from a familiarity and love for Linux, not from some random troll world.

Idiot Georgia Law = Innocent Man In Prison

…he was waiting for Microsoft to have their fun with Vista. Only then will they reveal what they’ve really been doing with Leopard. It’s like poker, you want to be the last one to act.

I expect a repeat of what happened with the iPod and the Zune:

Microsoft: And we present to you the Zune! Now with a wannabe iPod interface! Apple: LOL, we’re doing touch-screens, dumbass. Nice wheel, though…your idea?

So my thought is that Apple is waiting to spring another identical trap on Microsoft. Notice how quiet they’ve been about Leopard for all this time? Nothing at MacWorld — nothing since then. They’re letting Microsoft have its day because they know precisely what Vista has to offer. Steve has all the information and is basically setting them up for complete failure.

As soon as the buzz dies down from Vista, they’re doing to bust out with their equivalent of what the iPhone was to the Zune. In other words, something to make all the Microsoft fanboys who just bought Vista say, “Damn, I hate Apple…Why couldn’t Microsoft do that!?! I should have bought a Mac…”

I don’t know what Apple’s going to do with Leopard that’s going to make Vista look silly, but I have a very strong feeling it’s going to be something major in the UI arena. Hell, I just hope it involves replacing Finder.:

What people fail to understand about diversity is that it should be used to make a culture stronger — not to fragment and destroy it. This is what’s happening to Britian, the U.S., and even Canada. It’s time to put an end to this. One language. One culture. Unity.

Immigration and inclusion should be continued — there’s no question about that — but it should be done from the standpoint of, “What can you offer us?”, rather than, “How can we help you?” At some point, if we want to continue to be in the position of being able to help anyone, we need to start looking after ourselves.

An analogy comes to mind. When you’re preparing to fly and the flight attendant explains what would happen in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, what does she tell you?

Put your mask on first, then help the person who needs assistance.

Why is this so hard for people to grasp? You can’t help others if you are barely handling your own affairs. Think about it — we don’t make anything anymore, our kids can’t read, write, or do basic math, and our currency is becoming a complete laughing stock. We need to wake the hell up before it’s too late.

The very first step in this process is deciding who we are. And in my humble opinion, that means dropping a bit of the sophisticated, academic approach of globalism/multiculturalism and deciding to be American, through and through. First and foremost, that means leaving behind whoever you used to be and taking pride in what you are now.

This doesn’t mean be ashamed of your background or culture — in fact it’s quite the opposite; these various backgrounds help make the single, unified nation stronger. But only if the conversion to being American takes place. If newcomers to this nation are unwilling to shed their culture and adopt ours, they should not have come in the first place. I don’t fault them for coming, however; I fault our government for not looking after the interests of the nation as a single, living organism.

The only way this (or any) nation can succeed is for it to move forward as one unit. Unfortunately, we’re heading in exactly the opposite direction, and something must be done…soon.:

This is a must see: How we rank against other countries by the numbers (Video)

Folks, this isn’t funny anymore. Here are a few of the stats:

• 37 Million in Poverty
• 1.5 Million babies born out of wedlock every year
• We’re not even in top 10 in literacy rates
• Over 50% of Blacks and Hispanics won’t graduate from high school
• No longer the most college educated nation
• China graduates roughly 9 times the number of engineers we do
• Washington D.C. has a higher infant mortality rate than many cities in India

This country is becoming a joke; it’s already the laughing stock of much of the world, and if we don’t do something quick we’re going to start seeing a massive migration of the the country’s educated and wealthy to other, more fertile environments.

It’s going to be the opposite of what happened when this nation began to thrive — rather than people coming here full of ambition, those who have it will be moving as fast as they can to Canada, Europe, and other forward-thinking places.

Here’s a big part of the problem: The U.S. Is Attacking Science

It’s utterly sad. It’s not just sad, it’s depressing. What can we do to stop this from happening? Anything? I’m almost of the opinion that there’s too much momentum pulling us in the wrong direction, but I know one thing for sure — I’m getting involved in the next presedential election. I’m not only making sure that everyone I can influence votes, but I’m going to try and help with education on key issues. We have to at least try.

The other (and perhaps even more sinister) issue is that of a lack of performance standards (and/or willingness to enforce them). This applies to everything, but mostly education. We need to run this country like a fortune 500 business, i.e. like an organization focused on succeeding. We need to set standards for being first in literacy, first in Math and Science, etc., etc..

Anyway, I digress. I’ll leave these thoughts to another day in another post.

[Posted originally on October 28^th, 2005]

So I got a Wii. It’s my first console ever. I’ve played just about every console but never thought about purchasing one. From a marketing standpoint I find it interesting that this one in particular was a “must-have”. I think what won me over was the UI; the system just seems very “healthy” in the sense of sharing enjoyment with family and loved ones.

Example: the sports game that comes with the offering. It’s simply stellar. My fiance loves the boxing game, and the tennis is just incredibly emersive. Plus, I just found out that we’ll be able to download Nintendo favorites for pervious consoles soon. The previous Zelda games (the main game I bought the console for) as well as N64 Mariocart are definitely on my short list.

So if you’re thinking about it anyway, go for it. I’m not a gamer myself but I find the Wii very attractive as an entertainment system. I’ve got it riding my wireless in the house, pulling weather and news, and I can even browse the Internet on it. It was quite strange to navigate my own website on the TV — and just by pointing and clicking, no less.

Anyway, yeah…Wii — big success. And sorry for the title of this post. I submit to you, however, that if you don’t have penis jokes, what do you have?

I just spent the weekend cleaning my computer room, which is now my new home office. It’s been very refreshing. I threw out hundreds of pounds of crap I’ve been hoarding for my entire eight (8) years in the computer field. Old hardware, peripherals, manuals, software, games, etc. — all gone. I saved a few things, but probably only 5% of what I had.

The point is that it felt really good to do this. It’s part of the whole GTD thing — starting fresh and then following up with a good strategy for managing new inputs. If yo haven’t done this yet I really encourage you to give it a try. To me, simplification has a raw, natural beauty to it.

Simply amazing. I can’t wait until this makes it to Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Amazing New Desktop UI

This is what I want to do when I grow up — make movies like this one. Go watch this as soon as possible; it’s only eight (8) minutes long. Seriously.

A Girl Like Me