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Sounds like it was fun!

the many thoughts and reviews of Gnomedex 3, which about 11 months ago I swore up and down I would be at, but was not, and the overall impression is good, but I am sure that no one wants John C. Dvorak back, for a few people commented on his strongly expressed dislike of Cats, Macs, and blogs. Knowing the crowd there, I am sure that the majority were bloggers, many likely had Macs, and there was likely a few cat owners. The most unprepared speech was likely CmdrTaco, who seemed to be expecting a more Gnome Project crowd, not the one he got. Hey, Rob, check that out next time. I liked a lot of the coverage, especially the last Emc2serv A/V blog, which had Lori peaking in on the shot of Scott at the Mindstorm booth, and the reviews by author, not only the entire show.

Day out regretted

Oww. That is the best summation of my feeling right now. I spent 3 or so hours out at the Fringe, after walking to MLH all to no avail because while their site before Cody and I left said they had the card, the store was out of any SD cards at all. Very disappointing. We then walked to Portage Place, hit Black's, Radio Shack, and finally Staples where I found a 128MB SD card for $79 after instant rebate, which was a good enough price for me, though it did limit me on the rest of the night. We made it to The Fringe grounds around 3 PM, an hour later than I had arranged for, but it was fine as the friend I was meeting wasn't there until about 15 minutes later, so I was still good. We then hung around, walked around the vendors, and grabbed a bite to eat at the food area.

After the fringe walk, when we avoided another coworker and I got body checked by an old flame, we walked down Bannatyne Ave. to the Red River, and walked along the river to find a Splash Dash water bus to ride to the Forks. We saw ducks and I got some truly amazing pictures at the best quality on the HP. We finally figured out where the water bus stops, and walked over there. We then took it to the stop at The Forks(this picture taken midway) and we stopped for a moment with the coworker at the native gathering there. Some awesome pics there too. Then Cody and I walked to the ballpark, were we got $5 tickets, and though I was burnt quite painfully and had a throbbing headache, we still stayed to the end of the game(the team won 10-2) and got about 70 Pepsi Points.

It was a great night, the team played quite well even beyond a number of errors and allowing 10 hits for the Redhawks and committing one error(the 'Eyes also had 10 hits and 1 error, capitalizing on all 10 hits), and though there was 9 DVD players given away, neither Cody nor I won any. We had fun, and got home around 11, with Cody having a quick bite to eat and going to bed a short while ago. Now, if you don't mind, I have to run to bed myself, to try to get rid of this headache. I will talk to you all a little later. Night.

Day out and about

Ok, so I am informed my nephew, Cody, is in town this weekend, and I am told I am going to have him for part of Saturday and most of Sunday. I also won the payday pool on Friday, totalling $107, so I plan to buy an SD card for my camera, and a few books from McNally Robinson. MLH has a 64 MB card for $54($63 w/tax) and McNally has several of the Harry Potter books for $12 each. I also have plans to get together with a friend from work at the Fringe around 2 PM, and then Cody and I are going to the Goldeyes game against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, who it is not hard to say is their most hated rival. I expect to be leaving around noon, and hope to be back by ten PM, but expect it to be closer to 11 after the Pepsi points fun. I hope it's cloudy but not rainy.

Linux/Unix war heats up

There has been a lot of news in the last few days on the impending battle between IBM with the rest of the Linux community and SCO. SCO recently made demands of Linux users that they pay up for a license to Unix or they stop using the IP infringing Linux OS. Now SCO has a bullseye painted on, well, all across their company as every company that deals with Open Source is pissed at them and their threats. First up, the The Open Source Development Lab has brought on it's first non tech producing company, Unilever, who makes Dove soap and Lipton tea among other things. Next, we have a piece at The Register about the day long discussion at CA World in Las Vegas all about Linux and it's place and future.

Next, we have Big Blue in what promises to be the first of many responses to the SCO threat pointing out a few facts to SCO. The first point, this one going to it's sales force, is that until very recently SCO was selling it's own version of Linux, infringing code and all, which essentially nullifies it's claims that the code is proprietary. Their logic is that if SCO knew the code they were shipping(it is Open Source after all) and they still shipped it under the GPL, then they themselves are responsible for GPLing the code, not IBM. Therefore, SCO's extortion attempt is null and void. Analysts, meanwhile, are so mixed on their analysis of the latest SCO news to be of any use at all. Happily though, since Linux powers a large portion of the net, I am happy to say that hasn't changed.

Dearest Gnomedex

Yup. It's time. I can tell. I have seen Chris popping up on web cams all over Des Moines and area. I see Mike is there, and so is Jim. I just met another person from Mindstorm, Scott, who also went to Ohana's, along with 70 others. I am still home. Damn, this depresses me. I should be there. Had I begun planning for it in like December, I would have been. I didn't, and I am not. I am talking in the LG IRC channel to people there(on dial-up yet) and those who like me wish they were there. I kind of miss the scenes, the people, and the fun. I even have a good camera, so I might have actually had a chance at getting these memories on decent memory, in decent quality, to make them good for another calendar next year. *sigh* I miss it all. I hate this city this day.

'Star Wars Kid' files suit

The parent's of Quebec teenager Ghyslian Raza, known across the net as The Star Wars Kid, are suing his classmates who put the private movie on the internet, causing Raza to be undergoing psychiatric care and may be marked for life by the experience. The video, while fun for some, was clearly harmful to the person who was not intending to have the video come out. "The two-minute video shows an overweight teenager fighting a mock battle with a golf-ball retriever doubling as a lightsaber. The teenager twirls the "lightsaber" ever more energetically while generating his own sound effects. It is obviously not for public consumption. Ghyslain was so teased about the video, he dropped out of school and finished the semester at a children's psychiatric ward, according to a lawsuit filed in the Raza's hometown of Trois-Rivières, Quebec."

Access denied

After a posting about this to the Geeks mail list, I decided to do something I try to avoid, on a big scale. I have, as of today, added a large number of IP addresses to my blocked IP list. I doubt these IP's would come here anyway, but they are IP's I want to symbolically block from my sites, all of them if possible, and remove their access to my site. If more of us do this, it just might occur to them we are mad. The IP's belong to the MPAA and RIAA, and as you can see this site is now officially blocking those two organisations. If you want, grab the file and carefully follow the directions. It is simple, but need to be done quite carefully. Ok? Good. As another aside on both blogs you will now see that I have a button that can be downloaded, and used to link here. Enjoy.

Anti spam Registry?

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday released a survey he did that says 74% of internet users want a do not spam registry like the US has for telemarketing. This shows strong support for his Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing (SPAM) Act that he brought about last month, which would seem to answer this polls issue quite well. Sadly, most internet users, after seeing the success of the no not call list, think this is a good idea, but they fail to see the strong differences. Ok, let's say you set this up, and billions of net users sign up. Then, when people in the US get this list, they just export it to other countries, and now you have handed a list of over a billion valid, confirmed addresses for non US based spammers to go after. Whoa, what success. Duh!

Rep's revoke media ownership expansion

In a move that puts it directly opposed to the White House, the US House of Representatives has voted to revoke the decision by the FCC of not 6 months ago, and tighten the regulations again on media(TV, newspaper, radio) ownership in the US. "Lawmakers voted 400-21 for a spending bill for the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies that includes language blocking the FCC from approving deals that would allow networks to own stations reaching more than 35 percent of the national audience. The agency recently raised the television audience reach limit to 45 percent from 35 percent -- sparking a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and Republicans who argue it could reduce local reporting and the diversity of viewpoints. "

RIAA subpoena list published

TechTV has looked over the many subpoenas that have been sent out by the RIAA, and have compiled a fairly lengthy list of users, seemingly all on Kazaa, who they want taken out either willingly stopping their piratical activities, or by legal order followed by a penalty phase ranging in the many thousands of dollars. The list is rather long, and appears to not be nearly complete, but if this is any indication it is going to be a very interesting time if even a small percentage decide to fight it in court. The RIAA will quickly find that it is very costly to accuse and sue people at a whim, though there is one user I predict will be hard to pin down. You see, on the list of Kazaa user names they found, TechTV pulled www.k_lite.tk_Kazaa_Lite@Kazaa from the pile. This is all lazy Kazaa Lite users.