Why I hate asshole school administrators - and authority in general

Third grade boy gets accused of stealing from a little girl.  He denies it.  Female principal orders him down to his underwear, and runs her fingers inside the cuffs.  Turns out - the kid didn't steal anything.  The boys parents were never igven the opportunity to be present.  In fact, they were never even told it happened.  Of course, the super intendant defends:

 The assistant principal was within her legal authority, her legal right, to do the search.  She may have been overzealous in her actions.

 

Third-grader strip-searched at North Carolina school after stealing claim | Fox News

punishing thought crime isn't censorship so long as its your boss that's punishing the thought

in this case, it was like the catholic school set up a teacher with a questionnaire about her personal views, then punished her for being frank about her personal views - even though she said those views didn't influence the way she taught her class.  aside from the marriage equality issue - and the increasing distance between the church and its members on these sorts of issues - there's the whole idea that when you work for somebody, you're merely selling your time and services. employment isn't slavery - the employee is not owned by their boss.  so long as you do your job to the letter, no employer should have so much control over a person that they can punish you for what's in your mind on your off time.

Catholic School Fires Teacher For Supporting Gay Marriage In Self-Review | The New Civil Rights Movement

some people deserve to go to hell when they die

 like greedy businessmen that sell us poison to feed to our children

BPA | Toxic Ingredients Hiding in Kids' Products | The Stir

iSlavery

Apple’s suppliers claim to the press that they have ended excessive overtime and doubled workers’ salaries.  Meanwhile, interviews with the workers themselves reveal that, for many not in management, pay has actually decreased. Even worse, workers are now being told to work UNPAID overtime or risk losing their jobs

(emphasis retained from original)

Apple: Get serious about improving worker conditions | SumOfUs

Tell House Democrats: Support President Obama by drawing a line in the sand on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

All Democrats have to do is nothing. And yet . . . they can't help themselves! I predict that these great defenders of medicaid and social security will manage to somehow put compromises to those programs on the table and still not get what they want. The biggest differences between the democrats and republicans isn't so much the extent to which they favor wealthy business interests - its the extent to which republicans are open about it and democrats make excuses.


Tell House Democrats: Support President Obama by drawing a line in the sand on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Another reason to run Linux

Flame malware hijacks Windows Update to spread from PC to PC | Ars Technica

Breaking with Ubuntu is probably a good thing - but keep the name if Canonical is cool with it

Lots of people like Kubuntu.  I've always had a much better KDE experience on OpenSuse and Mint.   Kubuntu is still horrible on my Asus eepc 900 (obviously a low power computer - the system runs fine on my other machines), whereas OpenSuse has always ran adequately (but not as well as standard install Ubuntu). 

Personally, Kubuntu always felt like an after thought to the main distro.  It may be that the whole thing goes to hell with Canonical lessening their support.   But so long as Kubuntu remains an official -buntu, Canonical will have every reason to fund it sufficiently and provide enough support to prevent it from dragging down the overall -buntu brand.

From Kubuntu's perspective, losing the name means you eventually just become another KDE distro with an interesting history.   There are plenty out there to choose from.

Kubuntu Community Update | wonderly@blog:~#

Maybe they're on to something after all

 A phone that is a fully functioning Android - until you hook it up to a dock, and then it becomes a fully functional Ubuntu desktop with your data automatically integrated?   Could be impressive.  Will a manufacturer offer it installed, or will you have to root your phone and arguably void your warranty?  How hard will the install be?

At any rate, sounds like a move in the right direction.

Ubuntu OS for Smartphones May Come Next Year | PCWorld Business Center

better late than never (so long asits not too late)

Canonical is pushing developers to make it easy to install an application by clicking a button on a website.  This sure would have been a nice feature back when I started with Hardy - and its something Windows users have come to expect since at least Windows 2000 (if not earlier).  

Sometimes I get to wondering what a distro like Ubuntu is trying to do.  They seem focused on improving the PC experience for the average user (when they're not trying to distance Unity from Gnome Shell for its own sake) - and they've generally done a good job. Yet they don't seem to have any viable plan to increase the settings in which people will encounter Ubuntu in their everyday life, there's no reason to believe that manufacturers are going to start shipping Linux machines (Ubuntu or otherwise) without public demand, and the PC is going to start being a harder place for a user like me to install after the fact.   Plus, all the smart money is moving away from the x86/AMD64 PC and towards ARM powered mobile devices - where iOS is increasingly dominant and Android serves the alternative market.  So what the hell is their big picture objective?  What's the ultimate vision for this thing?  

But hey - I'll take whatever convenience I can get! 

‘Download for Ubuntu’ Button Campaign | jonobacon@home

best shoes = flat shoes

I go for big walks.   When I wear athletic shoes, my feet get blown.  with chucks there's never a problem.  Sometimes I'll throw in a flat insert to reduce the shock.  But even without one, I can walk forever.  I think its because they let your feet do their job - they're just a flat protection against bumps like the sandals the long walking ancient romans wore - or mocassans worn by native americans. 

To Heel or Not To Heel…The Toe-nnoying Truth About High Heels (and your poor toes)