Oh so sublte

Maybe there is no connection, but myspace's lead in page has a video of a russian atomic bomb blast prominently featured. Russian and US tensions have been on the rise. The war mongers have been talking about a new crusade - even though they've yet to clean up the mess from their last round of crusades. Myspace is owned by fox.

Waking up in a new world of computer freedom

I just had a reminder about the new world I live in. The other morning, I wanted to look at somebody's myspace to see if the person i saw at the drum circle the other night was this guy that used to date this girl i knew. Since they have a baby together, I figured he might be on her friends list. When i clicked on her friend list, a pop up appeared reading "your computer is infected with spyware."

And you know what? I could give two flying shits. On my lap top, I don't have to worry in the least about spyware, viruses, trojans, or worms. I run linux. And soon enough, I'll have the system simplified enough that I can run it on my desktop without Patty suffering any unecessary transitional pain.

One of the selling points of linux systems is that it's free. Not as in free beer - although it didn't cost me a dime - free as in free speech. there is no drm, no user agreements limiting how and where i get to use my programs, etc. But how is this for freedom:

Two months ago, I had two choices in operating systems. There was windows, with all its bugs - and mac, with compatibility issues and pricey equipment to buy. Today, I can choose between Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Mandriva, and countless other operating systems (i use Ubuntu). I can run a desktop called gnome that is easier than mac os to learn, a desktop called kde that is more customizable than windows, and a desktop called xfce that is so fast on my computer it's sick. I can run all three on the same computer.

And then there's the free programs - free as in free beer. A free multitrack recorder, a free sequencer, a free drum machine, a free notation writer . . . several 3d animators, a 2d animator, a free photo editor that rivals photoshop, and the list goes on (free molecule map generator, free algebra equation generator, etc etc etc)

so fuck windows.

celebrating 50 years of shit

Earlier in the summer I went to Ocean City and saw that every boardwalk shop was selling t-shirts with iron on peace signs. There could be worse fads - especially in an election year I hope everyone remembers which party took us into a pointless war - but I couldn't help but feeling like an old metal head looking at some kid with ac-dc shirt from target. like, i'm glad you like the band - but do you even know who bon scott is?

What I wanted to do was make a flyer that basically told people: "if you're going to go around promoting peace, you better mean it. i was in the streets of dc fighting for peace before you put your yellow ribbon magnet on your s.u.v." I wanted to pass around a pledge card that said, "by advocating for peace today, i vow to advocate for it again tomorrow when war fever again grips the nation." I wanted to get people to promise they'd never buy the war machine's lies ever again. I

Last night, i went to Ocean City again, and it's a good thing I didn't make any flyers or pledge cards because nobody was wearing the shirts. the stores still had them. so i go to wondering - what made the iron-on makers of the world think that people were going to start feeling so strong about ending the war that they'd stop wearing 'hollister' and start wearing something that matter.

Then i saw the answer: a store with a sign that read "celebrate 50 years of the peace sign. 1958-2008." So that was it - the peace sign had nothing to do with peace. It was just another cultural icon from the past that some marketing men thought it was high time to make some money on. As disappointing as it is that people arn't so energized for peace, I'm actually kind of glad people didn't buy into the hype.

So fuck celebration! In the fifty years since the peace sign, American wars have killed millions, maimed even more, and ruined places all over the world. If the fifty years since the peace sign we have fought cold wars, containment wars, wars against communism, wars against drugs, and wars against terror. lbj declared war on poverty, but then the war in vietnam took precedent - and we ultimately surrendered in both.

I'll start celebrating 50 years of the peace sign when I can celebrate 50 years of peace.

Fuck windows

I was just on myspace at work and a message just popped up saying “your computer is infected.” I wasn’t looking at porno, or doing anything fishy at all. just scanning through my mails. Whether it’s a bluff or not, that’s why I use Ubuntu. Once your off Windows, you never have to worry about that bullshit.