x1101's Blog

Strange Thoughts, Political Shenanigans.

nospam@example.com (x1101) — 2010-06-26T03:04:00Z

Those of you who know me will know that the title of the post is extremely accurate, I do, quite often, have strange thoughts. As the category tag will tell you, these strange thoughts have to do with politics, so, if you don't like political ramblings, I suggest you step away and come back later. So without further ado, here are my strange thoughts on politics.

Representative Democracy: Logistically this is an excellent Idea. Me, and the 100,000 other people I live with tell you how we feel about something, and you cast a vote about it. Yeah, sure, that make sense. What about the people who's canidate of choice lost the election? Does that mean that for the next (Term of elected official) years their opnion doesn't even matter? And then there is the bigger issue of, what if I vote for a canidate, but still strongly disagree with their position on some issue. Too bad, so sad. And lets not forget the real killer issue here. Party lines. If I am a politician (and you all know I am not) belonging to party X, and party X says jump, I must say 'how high' or choose a new line of work. That means that even if I wanted to, I could not accurately represent my voters well. So wait, how is this system supposed to be good. Oh, right, its easier than actually letting the whole voting population decide everything. Shenanigans.

Electoral College: This is represenative deomcracy at its very worst. This really and truly means that the vote you cast for the highest office in the land is nothing more than a suggestion to your Elector as to how they should vote. They could very well decide your wrong, and vote how they feel they should. What do you know, your just sheeple. So in the end, much as everyone says differently, your vote really doesn't count. Too bad. Oh lool, more Shenanigans.

Carer Politician: I can't imagine how anyone of the working class can think this is a good idea. We have effectively created a class of people who do nothing but rule. Often they come from generations of money, and with money comes power. People love power, and most will do anything they can to steal a little more of it for themselves. They go to the best schools, with Daddy's money. Then they go to the best colleges, with more of Daddy's money. Then they go into government, and they decide how to spend OUR money. But the only life they have ever know is the rich and powerful, so they continue to look out for the rich and the powerful, keeping the common man donw on his knees asking for a handout. Shenannigans.

Individual Rights: This just in, we do still have a few left after 8 years of the far right and their 'Terrorists' this and '9-11' that. But we can only keep these rights if we refuse to let go of them. Never give an inch. Our freedom of expression has been afirmed by the US Constitution (I say affirmed because I believe that its inherient, and cannot be given nor taken) so we should use it. Our freedom from unwarranted searches has been established, so refuse any search of any kind done without a warrant. Our right to bear arms has been affirmed, so go, get a gun, and carry it everywhere. I could go on, but I think my point here is established. We will only keep our rights by agressively demanding them.

What our founding fathers might think: I am not really sure I even want to consider this. I can almost see Jefferson trying to climb out of his grave to kick our collective ass. John and Samuel Adams, George Washington, and so many other right behind. We have forsaken all for which they have fought. No longer are we free to pratice our religions (this inculdes NOT praticing a religion) as we see fit, No longer do the rights of the people and of the Sates outweigh the rights of the Federal government. No longer are those governing held to the same standards as the governed. We have lost our way. And we continue to stray, because it is so eays. Let someone else worry about it.

Alright that is about as much incoherient ranting as I capable of on a nice Friday night.

Lots of New-ness

nospam@example.com (x1101) — 2010-06-08T17:06:29Z

So it has been a while since I wrote anything here. There are several reasons, and a good number of excuses, for this. Mostly I have failed to take the time to write the things I have been thinking. But this post isn't about my failing as a blogger. That would be looking at the past, and that doesn't help. I am instead going to be looking at the future. Interestingly enough, I do have to take a few steps back in time to begin the story.

In March I was promoted to the role of Jr. Linux/Networking Engineer at the company I work for. This means first and foremost that I am no longer a member of the help desk, and don't spend my days taking calls about why someone's outlook is 30 seconds slow getting mail. Please don't get me wrong. I don't have any animosity towards people who call up for things like that, but taking calls like that challenges me in only one way, and thats my patience. Since moving to my new role I have been given responsibilities and challenges that are more to my liking. I now manage the phone system (a very complex system, as we run call centers in two different countries). Now this phone system (for those of you in the know, its Asterisk 1.4.x on two T1 lines with aprox 300 numbers) is going to be a challenge, but a welcome one. We will be upgrading it ( moving from the 1.4 branch of Asterisk to the 1.6 branch) and rethinking a good deal of it. I also have lots of other things I a responsible for, our DNS servers, our old MailScanners, our old OpenFire system, our Wiki, and our monitoring servers just to name a few.

Another new thing is that I have decided to rethink some of my lifestyle choices. I am trying to eat better, move more, and think more about where things come from. My lovely wife has decided to tag along for the ride at least for now. We are trying to eat local foods or make our own when we can to cut down on preservatives, pesticides, and other nasty chemicals that might find their way into our food (thanks Monsanto ). To that end we have also taken to starting our own garden. Right now it looks a bit sad, but its a start. I will eventually (I hope) write a bit more about this effort and what it takes to make foods rather than to buy them in a box. For now is smoothies, rice and beans, and other healthier things for me.

That seems to be all the new that I really feel the need to write about for now. Until later, stay free, stay open, and move in the ways life pulls you.

Lyle J. McKarns
x1101

Definition of Purpose

nospam@example.com (x1101) — 2010-02-13T14:27:01Z

So for some reason I feel the need to define and publish my personal stance on several things. This is somewhere between a 'Mission Statement' (which feels to corporate and lacks personal responsibility) and a personal 'Manifesto' (which sounds too ominous and is associated with crazies). I hope, also, but putting in writing where I stand on things, I can become more firmly entrenched in these positions. So here we go, I will break this down by catagory, and then get specific.

1) Free Software - The concept of Free Software might need a bit of explanation, as in this case 'Free' means several things. When most people hear free they assume it meas free as in no cost, and while most Free Software is indeed no cost, that really isn't what I mean. Here I mean intellectually free. Like Free Speech. Free Software is software that uses the US copyright system to give you rights to the software you are using rather than to take those rights away from you. The group that is (at least visibly) spearheading this movement has their own definition that is surely clearer than any I could give. It can be found here at the FSF website. I have, since high school, been getting more and move involved in this Free Software movement, and the Free Culture that surrounds it, which takes me to the next subject.

2) Free Culture - This is really just taking the Free Software moment to its logical endings. If the software I write is Free, what about the artwork, the blogs, the music? Free/Open culture the sharing of all ideas for the good of all of us. If I have created something, and you want to build something on top of it, why shouldn't you. It makes what I have made even more useful, and give the world yet another interesting idea. To this end I have taken to listening to much more freely licensed music. Most of what I listen to can be found at Jamendo (Thanks to Dan from RatholeRadio for introducing me to may of the artists). This both saves me money (thats good) and circumvents a very broken system by which someone other than the artists (The RIAA or the recording studios in most cases) control the music. I also plan to officially release my blog as Creative Commons (as soon as I do a bit of research about the different versions of the license to choose the right one).

3) Open Technology - This (as most things do) springs from my FreeSoftware leaning. I would (and am for the sake of this post) define Open Technology as any hardware device that will allow me (the owner of it) to do exactly what every I want with it. That means that if I wanted to run Linux on my toaster, I should be free to do that without any thread of voiding a contract or warranty. This doesn't happen all that often, but it is getting more and more common. The saddest part is the companies that actively try to stop consumers from exercising this right on things they buy. The prime example is Apple with their iPhone. If you were to 'jailbreak' your iPhone (to take it to a non-ATT network or run non-Apple approved apps on it, or just because you own it), you could be banned from the Apple Store, the next update might be designed specifically to 'brick' your phone, or any number of other things. This seems wrong.

4) Free Speech - My thoughts of Free Speech seem (at least to me) to differ slightly from the common conceptions. Firstly I believe that every right that we have comes, inherently, with an attached responsibility. In my mind, one cannot exist without the other. In the case of Free Speech, this is how it should work. I have the right to say anything that I feel. Anything at all. I can already hear some you you agreeing, but think about it for a moment. Anything. I should not be prevented from saying this on TV, over public airwaves, in public places. But, with this right comes the responsibility that I am actually responsible for what I say. If I were so inclined, I should be perfectly allowed to stand in the middle of a mall and deliver a hate speech (I'm not, hate is horrible). Of course when a member of what ever group I was speaking against beats me to a pulp, part of the responsibility is mine. I feel that censorship, any censorship at all, is a violation of this right. Part of the right to Free Speech is the right to be offensive, and be offended. (You will all note that comments to my blog DO NOT require moderation, so go ahead, let me know why you disagree)

Alright, I have outlined some of the (rather rigid) principals that I try to live my life by. Please let me know what you think, and stay tuned for more goofy rambling.

Lyle J. McKarns
x1101

Starting this Blog

nospam@example.com (x1101) — 2010-02-08T03:08:43Z

So as promised I thought I might go into a little more detail as to what has (thus far) been involved in starting this blog. The best way I can think to do this is a list, with some explanation added to each item, and since I am the one doing it, I get to decide.

1) Setting up the Web Server - as hard as this sounds, it was actually the easiest part of the whole experience. I simply created a Virtual Machine using Virtual Box (a product developed by SUN, which is now owned by ORACLE) running Debian Linux 5.0 (I know, thus far this post seems to be a link fest, I am just trying to give people who might NOT know some of these companies an easy way to find them). From there, setting up Apache was a snap (actually, I chose to do this during the install, but I wanted to give a plug to Apache as well). I did have to ensure I was running PHP, since most Blogs need this, and I like PHP anyway. So with that, I had we Web Server. Next I needed to get it online.

2) Registering my domain (http://x1101.net) - After I had my Web Server setup, I needed to get in onto the Internet (so you good folks could get to in). To that end, I did some digging, looking for what would be the most cost effective (listen to me, I sound like a salesmen, just shoot me and get it over with) way to register and host a domain. I had considered things like LunarPages or the like, but the thought of paying $15 to $20 a month for someone to do for me what I can do myself seemed rather silly. So I registered my domain with Zone Edit. I pay only a yearly fee (a puny $10, not even enough for a 12 pack of decent beer) to register the domain, and they do all the DNS magic. What happens is my router has some software that talks to them (rather often) and say 'Hey here I am" so that when you put in the name, it gets to me. So far, easy peasy, now I need some software to run the blog.

3) Deciding on a Blogging Software - This was actually rather difficult, mostly because there are so many choices and I really had no experience installing a blogging platform. The first part of the decision was that I was NOT to use WordPress. Not that I have anything against WordPress. Its well done, as far as I know is fully open source,the works. But its been done, a lot. And surprise, surprise, I happen to value the road less traveled. So I did some digging, decided on a platform and went to install. No dice. I spent over a day banging my head away on it. After about the 150th failed attempt, I decided that it was time to move on. Enter Serendipity. Its PHP, simple to setup, simple to use, and looks good. Setup is a snap, simply download the latest release and unzip it where you want it (I also renamed the folder to blog, else the address would have been x1101.net/serendipity, which I did not like at all). From there you just visit a PHP page (really the installer script) answer a few questions, and Rock 'n' Roll.

4) Content - This is the really hard part. I have this web server, on the internet, with blogging software one it. Now I have to find something to say (that isn't really that hard, I always have something or another to say, I should say that I have to find something worth hearing). My hope is that I will be able to keep this for all purpose blogging. Political rants, Linux rants, How-To articles, more of my random mumbling about the combination thereof and more. I can't promise I will be interesting, but I can promise that I will be honest (which I am sure comes as a shock to those who know me) in what I write. Just one more layer in my support of Open Culture.

Lyle J. McKarns

x1101

A new experiment

nospam@example.com (x1101) — 2010-02-08T00:08:21Z

I have discovered that I am rather terrible with blogging. I have, on several occasions, created blogs for specific purposes. One for political ranting, another for discovering Linux Distributions on my netbook, and another for Linux how-to's. Each of these have failed because I so rarely have something to say on that specific issue.

I have decided that the remedy for this is simply to create an 'All Purpose' blog of my own. Part of what I am doing is running this blog on my own system, thereby making it more interesting. (I hope to have a post sometime this week about my journey to setup a blogging platform, and possibly the rest of the setup involved with my Web Server). This being the case, I will (hopefully) oft post things here, thou I doubt that there will be rhyme or reason to what I post (at least any that is discernible to any sane person) but I assure you, it all makes sense in my some what deranged noggin (which should worry someone, possibly).

To that end I give you my new blog, 'A day in the life of a Brown Coat'. For any that feel that are on the wrong side of an inside joke, I assure you, most people will be. For a slightly less convoluted picture check out browncoats.com which might point you in the right direction. Mostly Brown Coats are (generally) people who will fight for a cause that we believe is right, long after that cause is well and truly dead. The term comes from the show Firefly, which I like quite a bit. In it, a few members of the ships crew are/were Brown Coats, who fought on the loosing (though not wrong) side of an interplanetary war. They fought for the freedom to govern themselves in a way that they saw fit, independent from the large central government they had no desire to belong to. They lost, but never did they give up. So I have chosen to take the name upon myself (as have many others, though possibly for different reasons), in hopes that it will push me to stand by my convictions, regardless the cost, or the outcome.

For those of you still reading, I warn you that this is likely what you can expect. Wordy tangents similar to my own thought process. Oh, I might have the clarity to start on a topic and stay there, but likely not. If you know me you will be used to this, if not, you will either learn that's just how I am, or you won't. It don't bother me none either way, Dong Ma?

So, I think I have rambled on quite enough for one sitting, enjoy my scatter-brained postings, and stay tuned.

Lyle J. McKarns
x1101