So long and thanks for all the fish

So long Blogger, I've gone and switched my blog over to Wordpress. This happeed about two minutes ago, so if you're reading this you used an old link, old bookmark, or old rss feed, which should updated in the unlikely event that you would like to continue reading Looks More Like a Puma.

Classic Trombonium: 12-14-2005

If you read this blog regularly (admittedly the odds are about the same as me getting run over by a snowmobile...in Georgia), you may recall me introducing what I intended to be a regular entry for this blog, and that is Classic Trombonium in which I reprint an old entry from the Xanga blog I kept when I was a freshmen. Regardless, here's another one that's somewhat topical due to the date. Don't expect me to ignore this blog for a month, though. The internet's not that lucky.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

On the day of GoingHome, my true love gave to me...

Well, we've had one fine semester of superior blogging. Now it's Christmas Break. I am going home. I will not be on Xanga for one solid month. I will not be on Facebook either. The same goes for you. Get off the stinkin' computer. Spend time with your family (yes, they're the strangers on the couch in the living room).

One other administrative detail: the Pirate rave/polka is gone. You can all uncover your ears, now. I've had my fun. Let this also serve as a gesture of goodwill to others with Blogs of Mass Sonicification. We can all lay down our music in peace and make the world free of obnoxious singing webpages. I do try to be a good example.

Regards,

The fish formerly known as,

-Rick

(No, that's not my real signature. Don't try to print it off and steal my identity. It won't work.)

Innovation

Caption on a billboard:

Introducing the World's First Touch-Screen Blackberry

Woah, that's pretty impressive, RIM. You've made the first touch-screen phone made by you. Innovative...

It actually reminds me of a phrase that's become a modern cliche: "First African-American/Hispanic/Asian/Female/Icelandic/Whatever person to do X." Don't get me wrong, I believe in celebrating legitimate accomplishments, but usually when I hear this phrase it's just baloney.

Things I like about Linux (Ubuntu)

Package Manager - is the nicest way to get software I've ever worked with. If you're looking for freeware, whether it's a video editor or a ruby interpreter, you can find it and install neatly within minutes. Updates to the OS and all the software is integrated through the package manager so I automatically get security fixes for Ubuntu and new versions of my IM client all through the same helpful interface.

Geek Friendly - as in, an operating system that helps me do stuff rather than trying to continuously throw up road blocks. It's nice to have an OS that doesn't do its best to bury the terminal and actually comes with a C compiler installed.

Virus Software - I don't use any. Whoop.

Community - is friendly and helpful. Ubuntu has it's share of problems, but its community of users and (often emphatic) fans is a pretty good resource for solving problems.

Well this wraps up my little series about operating systems. If I haven't bored you yet, go on over to computerworld.com for the OS Smackdown.

Things I like about Windows

This post is the third in a series about Operating Systems which I began with Things I hate about Linux and continued with Things I hate about Windows. Those posts might have left you thinking I hate everything, which isn't entirely true. Even Windows has a (short) list of things to recommend it.

Simplicity - is why even my dog can use a Windows computer. There needs to be a computer for those people whose only interest in a computer is checking email and looking at pictures. There needs to be an operating system that treats its users like infants because, let's face it, some users need all the help they can get. Windows is that operating system.

Standards - do have value. It's nice for users and third party vendors to know that Windows is always the same everywhere you go. Users have a familiar interface that looks the same on their computer at home, their computer at work, and the computer in the public library. Writers of software and makers of hardware can be assured that the Windows they have on their test machines is the same Windows that users have which simplifies compatibility.

Office 2007 - is the best Office suite there is. I really have to hand it to Microsoft on this one. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are pretty stinkin' good programs, and I have yet to see an imitator that duplicates the quality of these essentials.

BSOD - is just plain classic. The world would be a sadder place without these pictures to brighten our day:

From an airport

 

From a Canadian department store

From the Beijing Olympics

Thank You Aggie Moms of Atlanta

If you're a new Aggie, and your mom is thinking about joining an Aggie Moms club, try to get her to join the Aggie Moms Club of Atlanta (Texans please note that the word Atlanta not followed by the name of a state means Atlanta, Georgia; not Atlanta, Texas). Why the Aggie Mom's Club of Atlanta? Because at the end of the fall semester Aggie Moms make care packages, and while most students find themselves with a little bag that has a couple cookies and a pencil in it; we get this:














The package. Dwarfing everything in my room.

Nothing less than a Swiss Army knife could get it open.

Such a quantity of projectiles. No one in the dorm dares oppose me anymore.

Whoa! Where did my mom find this? You know they just don't make 60's TV shows like they used to...

A cling-on (Klingon?) bear making himself at home on my uniform...

...and on my mug...

...and on my trombone.

And then there's all the food. It's pretty ridiculous, I had to stand on my chair to get this all in one picture.
EDIT - After reading the bottle more carefully I discovered that the Bubble solution is "Not for human consumption."

Ah, that's what the Bubble solution is for...


So...shout out to the Aggie Moms of Atlanta: Y'all are awesome.

Things I hate about Windows

What the heck is Windows?

This continues my little series on what's good and bad about the various operating systems for personal computers (by which I of course mean computers for persons, not non-mac computers). Last time I listed the things I hate about Linux, and the next entry in the series will be the things I like about Windows.

Performance - is the reason I got tired of running Windows in the first place. Windows seems to have a habit of bogging down in awkward places like when right clicking on anything in File Explorer, or when trying to use the Start Menu. I hate logging onto Windows machines in various labs because I inevitably end up waiting for about a minute while Windows "Loads my personal settings" (I don't have any personal settings!), and then when it looks ready, you still usually have to wait for another 30 or 60 seconds before it becomes responsive.

Security - means you have install some kind of anti-virus software which is inevitably a resource pig. Sure security is a really hard problem, but they could at least do the simple things, like salting passwords. I can take a cd which I downloaded for free and put it in your Windows computer and it will tell me your password, because unlike every other system that stores hashed passwords, Windows doesn't use salt them to make the hash unique for each machine.

Reliability - means most Windows user have to restart their computer. Often. And then there's my favorite Windows anecdote. The US Navy actually had a trial "Smartship" program which integrated all of the ship's systems together using a network of computers running Windows NT. It worked fine until one guy accidentally entered some wrong data which cause a divide by zero error which crashed the system leaving the ship dead in the water for 3 hours. Curiously, I haven't heard anything about that program since.

The little things - which I had no idea were missing until I started using Ubuntu Linux regularly. Things like:

• Lack of ssh/scp. I don't know of any built in way to communicate with a server in Windows
• Lack of workspaces. So simple and useful. So glaringly absent.
• Always on top. This is an option for every window in Ubuntu. Really simple. Really useful. Really not available in Windows.
• UI Customization. I can completely change every menu, icon, sidebar, and shortcut on my desktop in Ubuntu. In Windows, I can have my Start Menu on the bottom or the side or the top. And that's about it.
• Notepad. The worst text editor ever written. Could they not put more than 15 minutes of effort into it, or better yet just bundle in one of the 5 gazillion existing free text editors?
• Printscreen. Why do I have to paste into Paint to get an image file?
• Cmmand prompt. Everything is backwards from all the other operating systems.
• "Are you sure you want to send file XXX to the Recycling Bin?" Isn't that kind of the point of having a Recycling Bin? That you don't have to be sure?

And finally, my absolute favorite is this dialog right here.

Seems innocent enough, until you try the "Restart Later" option. That makes the dialog go away for all of 10 minutes, and then it pops up right back in your face, asking you the same stupid question and giving you the same stupid countdown. Of course you're trying to use your computer so you click "Restart Later" and of course 10 minutes later it pops up again with another dose of helpful Windows user interface...


Well, I guess that's about it. Windows isn't all bad though. Stick around through the commercial break and I'll tell you what I like about it.