There has been a lot of push over the past many years to get more Linux onto more desktops. That’s fine, as long as the pushers keep in mind that an Operating System is, fundamentally, a means and not an end. Similarly, desktop environments are neither the journey nor the destination—they are, at most, the steering wheel and the dashboard.
These sure look nice:
http://www.audiowood.com/turntables.html
I still have a collection of vinyl. Somewhere. One of these would make it worth-while to break out the ol’ Discwasher again.
The shop is something like an auto parts store. There’s a long counter, and most of the parts and surly sales assistants are kept behind it. Customers stand on the other side and wait their turns. You would almost expect to see a little machine dispensing numbered tickets, but no one calls your number here. If the shop is crowded, you need to be a little assertive. Stand at the bar and stare at whomever is most likely to be free to help you next.
So, I’ve got this friend who is a security geek at the local mega-sized institution of higher learning and such. …but that’s not the only reason she’s geek-cool. She also recently self-published this nifty looking book: http://tinyurl.com/oho4ml
Worth a look-see.
A Thumbs Down Review of my Dell Experience
Dell has a nifty little desktop unit called the Studio Hybrid. It uses a bit of laptop technology and adds a touch of flair. The result is small, attractive, efficient, and quick. Should be sweet, no? Well… it should be, but however nice this machine is it isn’t nice enough to compensate for the difficulties encountered when dealing with Dell. I won’t be getting any more of these machines, even though I could use them. I won’t be getting any more anything from Dell any time soon.
Saint Paul declared a Snow Emergency last night. I had to do some driving yesterday and I know how bad it was, so the snow emergency was a good thing.
For those of you out in the suburbs, I’ll explain that Saint Paul keeps snow emergencies simple so that anyone can handle them. The night of the snow emergency you move your car off of any street with a Night Plow sign. Between 6:am and 8:am you get up and move your car back to the Night Plow streets (which have already been cleared) so that the plows can finish their work. All done in less than 24 hours.
This morning my wife got up early and moved the cars, took my son to school, did some shopping, and came home to find that a Chrysler Steroid Le Behemoth had been left in front of our house. We have a double lot, but the plows had to skip our entire section of street because of this thing. That means that we had a big pile of plowed snow where we usually park, where neighbors usually park, where the folks who go to the church at the corner on Sunday usually park, etc.