Fair And Balanced?

by Bryan

To help people make up their minds about Tom Shales’s complaints about Christiane Amanpour’s first show as the anchor of Meet the Press, here are their relative accomplishments from their Wikipedia entries:

Tom Shales has worked in Elgin, Illinois and Washington, DC.

Shales worked as Entertainment Editor at the Washington Examiner from 1968-1971. He joined the Washington Post as a writer in the Style section in 1972, was named chief television critic in July 1977, and was appointed TV Editor in June 1979. The Washington Post Writers Group has syndicated his column since 1979…

During 1998-1999, Shales was a frequent film critic for Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He was twice a guest co-host on the television show Roger Ebert & the Movies after the death of Gene Siskel…

Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988, for his work at the Washington Post…

His latest book is Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Little, Brown and Co. 2002

Christiane Amanpour, CBE has reported from “Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans and the United States during Hurricane Katrina.”

Honors

Her body of work has earned an inaugural Television Academy Honor; nine News and Documentary Emmys; four George Foster Peabody Awards; two George Polk Awards; three duPont-Columbia Awards; the Courage in Journalism Award; an Edward R. Murrow award and other major journalism awards – as well as honorary degrees from The American University of Paris, Georgetown University, New York University, Smith College, Emory University and the University of Michigan.

In 2007, Amanpour was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her “highly distinguished, innovative contribution” to the field of journalism…

Shales has spent decades watching television for the Style section of the Washington Post while Amanpour has seen more more wars than the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He talks to the judges on American Idol, while she interviews world leaders.

54 comments

1 cookie jill { 08.03.10 at 11:36 pm }: Christiane can open up a can of intellectual whoop-ass on ol’ Tommy boy.
2 Kryten42 { 08.03.10 at 11:50 pm }: So… Shales is a cowardly “I know the Hollywood A-List personally” ass-kissing wannabe, and Amanpour is a gutsy, intelligent, hard working, honest journalist.

That should sum it up simply for most people . 😉 😛
3 Bryan { 08.03.10 at 11:55 pm }: Based on the reporting of a pair of Australian journalists who crossed paths with her while covering Katrina, the “whoop-ass” might be more that intellectual. She apparently was intimidating police officials in Louisiana who thought they were going to stop her from going where she wanted to go, and seeing what she wanted to see.

Given that it is rather well known that Yasser Arafat hung up on her when she started giving him a hard time about some of the things he was doing, and her father was a staunch supporter of the Shah, I don’t think it makes any sense to assume she would be even mildly uncommitted about the Taliban, a group of religious fanatics who pour acid on young girls for attending school. She is known to have strong views on the treatment of women and children.

Update: we were posting at the same time, Kryten, but that’s about it. Shales thinks that writing for the Washington Post gives him leverage, and doesn’t understand that she will probably ignore him, but could beat the crap out of him.
4 Kryten42 { 08.04.10 at 4:09 am }: lol… That happens! 😉

The more I read up on Amanpour, the more amazed I am they she’s still alive! You and I both know that the kinds of people she has seriously annoyed with her reports over the past couple of decades have no problems in making nuisances disappear for ever. She has ensured that her disappearance would cause even more problems, and they know it. 🙂 Very smart, but very gutsy! It’s a dangerous game and she walks a very fine line. She deserves every recognition she has earned.

The World would be a far better place if all Journalists followed her example. I’d guess that fewer than 1% even try. Most so-called Journalists today are worse than the atypical small-town busy-body gossip mongers.
5 Badtux { 08.04.10 at 3:02 pm }: I’m just glad that they got her out of war zones. She was showing signs of PTSD big-time by the time they finally reeled her in. I don’t know how long she’s going to last at This Week before the gutless wonders at Disney send her packing, but it’s a well-earned reprieve from serving in one war zone after another.

– Badtux the “She’s earned it” Penguin
6 Bryan { 08.04.10 at 4:46 pm }: After six years at a Catholic boarding school in Britain, Kryten, she was ready for combat and generally raising hell, but she has been at it a long time.

I think your right, Badtux, I think she was burning out which is why CNN brought back to London, and then to New York. She definitely needs some down time with her family.

The Mouse isn’t famous for journalistic integrity or courage, but she probably has a solid contract that will cost them big time to mess with.

She really needs to write a few books before someone else decides to tell “her story”.

The telling quote: Her emotional delivery from Sarajevo during the Siege of Sarajevo led some viewers and critics to question her professional objectivity, claiming that many of her reports were unjustified and favoured the Bosnian Muslims, to which she replied, “There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn’t mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing.”

That is the difference between journalism and stenography.
7 Badtux { 08.05.10 at 12:08 pm }: If she had covered the horrors of the Holocaust as they were happening, Nazi supporters would have accused her of being biased against Nazis for not reporting dispassionately the Nazi notion that Jews were vermin and needed to be exterminated. Apologists for horror are always dismayed when journalists actual commit journalism and report that horror is, well, horror. So it goes…

– Badtux the History Penguin
8 Bryan { 08.05.10 at 4:00 pm }: That’s why Arafat hung up on her, she wanted to talk about corruption in the Palestinian Authority, not just what the Israelis were doing.
9 Kryten42 { 08.05.10 at 10:24 pm }: LOL Yea (Arafat)! 😀

One of the main things I like about her, is that she basically said that just because she is a Journalist, doesn’t mean she has to stop being a moral human who knows right from wrong. It’s obvious these days that most of those who pretend to be Journalists suspend any ethics, morals, honesty and integrity when they sign up (if they had any to begin with that is, very doubtful.)

Even when she believed that whoever she was interviewing was dead wrong, she gave them an honest chance to give their side and to try to justify themselves. For the most part, they failed miserably. Many of the people who are annoyed at her are so because she showed them for what they are, and they know they did it to themselves! 😀 Sometimes, being truly *fair and balanced* is the cruelest way to be! Allow them to hang themselves, saves her the work. 😆

It’s why Rethugs now avoid any honest Journo like the plague! They know they will look like the completely unethical, dishonest, crooked, fools they are!
10 Bryan { 08.06.10 at 12:19 am }: She has refused to be a binary person, to believe in absolutes. She was always ready to listen, but would insist on being told the truth, and most of the people who hated her were terrified of the truth.

She simply got them talking and let them, essentially, testify against themselves.

Her coverage from Iran during their election was amazing if you were a trained interrogator. She was indicating with body language and verbal hints that her reports were garbage, so wait until she got out. She gave reports that passed the censors, but tipped you off that the reports were censored, and she wasn’t telling you everything.

She is very good at what she does.
11 Kryten42 { 08.06.10 at 11:44 pm }: There is another Journalist I like who follows in Amanpour’s footsteps, Ann Jones. I have been reading her articles on the war in Afghanistan. She has been reporting on it for about 8 years, and has spent considerable time in Afghanistan. She has a series on TomDispatch

Here is her latest dispatch:
Tomgram: Ann Jones, In Bed With the U.S. Army

Here’s a couple of small excerpts:

Boys and Their Toys

Having been critical of American policies from the get-go, I saw nothing on the various Army bases I visited to change my mind. One day at that FOB, preparing to go on a mission, the sergeant in charge wrote the soldiers’ names on the board, followed by “Terp” to designate the Afghan-American interpreter who would accompany us, and “In Bed,” which meant me. He made a joke about reporters who are more gung-ho than soldiers. Not me. And I wasn’t alone. I had already met a lot of older guys on other bases, mostly reservists who had jobs at home they felt passionately about — teachers, coaches, musicians — and wives and children they loved, who just wanted to go home. One said to me, “Maybe if I were ten years younger I could get into it, but I’m not a boy anymore.”

The Army had sent me a list of ground rules for reporters — mostly commonsense stuff like don’t print troop strength or battle plans. I also got a checklist of things to bring along. It was the sort of list moms get when sending their kids off to camp: water bottle, flashlight, towel, soap, toilet paper (for those excursions away from base), sleeping bag, etc. But there was other stuff too: ballistic eyewear, fireproof gloves, big knife, body armor, and Kevlar helmet. Considering how much of my tax dollar goes to the Pentagon, I thought the Army might have a few spare flak jackets to lend to visiting reporters, but no, you have to bring your own.

All the Comforts of War

On the great scale of American bases, think of Bagram as a city, secondary bases as small towns, FOBS as heavily gated communities in rural landscapes, and outlying COPs (Combat Outposts) as camps you wouldn’t want your kid to go to. A FOB is, by definition, pretty far out there on the fringe, but I have to say straight out that when the chopper dropped me off in full (and remarkably heavy) body armor and Kevlar helmet at my designated FOB, it didn’t look at all like “the front” to me.

I should explain that my enduring image of war comes from the trenches of World War I, from which my father returned with a lot of medals, lifelong disabilities, and horrific picture books I wasn’t allowed to see as a child. In that war, men lived for months on end without a change of uniform, in muddy or frozen trenches, infested with rats and lice, often amid their own excrement and their own dead.

The frontline FOB where I landed and its soldiers, by contrast, are spic-and-span. Credit for this goes largely to the remarkably inexpensive labor of crews of Filipinos, Indians, Croatians, and others lured from distant lands by American for-profit private contractors responsible for making our troops feel at home away from home. The base’s streets are laid out on a grid. Tents in tidy rows are banked with standard sand bags and their super-sized cousins, towering Hescos filled with rocks and rubble.

The tents are cooled by roaring tornados of air conditioning, thanks to equipment fueled by gasoline that costs the Army about $400 per gallon to import. It takes fuelers three to four hours every day to refill all the giant generators that keep the cold air coming, so I felt guilty when, to prevent shivering in my sleep, I stuffed my towel into the ducts suspended from the ceiling of my tent.

Yeah. War sure is hell these days! Quite apart from the usual civilian massacres, it’s no wonder the average Afghan wants “Yankees! Go Home!”
12 Kryten42 { 08.07.10 at 5:10 am }: The more I read… *sigh* What is it with the amazing ignorance and arrogance of Americans? Particularly those supposedly in charge? It’s a serious question. Here’s an example:

Doing Good to Afghans

On the base, I heard incessant talk about COIN, the “new” doctrine resurrected from the disaster of Vietnam in the irrational hope that it will work this time. From my experience at the FOB, however, it’s clear enough that the hearts-and-minds part of COIN is already dead in the water, and one widespread practice in the military that’s gone unreported by other embedded journalists helps explain why. So here’s a TomDispatch exclusive, courtesy of Afghan-American men serving as interpreters for the soldiers. They were embarrassed to the point of agony when mentioning this habit, but desperate to put a stop to it. COIN calls for the military to meet and make friends with village elders, drink tea, plan “development,” and captivate their hearts and minds. Several interpreters told me, however, that every meeting includes some young American soldiers whose locker-room-style male bonding features bouts of hilarious farting.

To Afghan men, nothing is more shameful. A fart is proof that a man cannot control any of his apparatus below the belt. The man who farts is thus not a man at all. He cannot be taken seriously, nor can any of his ideas or promises or plans.

Blissfully unaware of such things, the Army goes on planning together with its civilian consultants (representatives of the State Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and various independent contractors who make up what’s called a Human Terrain Team charged with interpreting local culture and helping to win the locals over to our side). Some speak of “building infrastructure,” others of advancing “good governance” or planning “economic development.” All talk of “doing good” and “helping” Afghanistan.

In a typical mess-up on the actual terrain of Afghanistan, Army experts previously in charge of this base had already had a million-dollar suspension bridge built over a river some distance away, but hadn’t thought to secure land rights, so no road leads to it. Now the local American agriculture specialist wants to introduce alfalfa to these waterless, rocky mountains to feed herds of cattle principally pastured in his mind.

Yet even as I was filling my notebook with details of their delusionary schemes, the base commander told me he had already been forced to “put aside development.” He had his hands full facing a Taliban onslaught he hadn’t expected. Throughout Afghanistan, insurgent attacks have gone up 51% since the official adoption of COIN as the strategy du jour. On this eastern front, where the commander had served six years earlier, he now faces a “surge” of intimidation, assassination, suicide attacks, roadside bombs, and fighters with greater technical capability than he has ever seen in Afghanistan.

A few days after we spoke, the Afghanistan command was handed to General Petraeus, the sainted refurbisher of the military’s counterinsurgency manual. I wonder if the base commander has told Petraeus yet what he told me then: “What we’re fighting here now — it’s a conventional war.”

I’d been “on the front” of this war for less than two weeks, and I already needed a vacation. Being outside the wire had filled me with sorrow as I watched earnest, heavily armed and armored boys try to win over white-bearded Afghans — men of extraordinary dignity — who have seen all this before and know the outcome.

We’ve discussed the whole “winning the hearts and the minds” thing before. It’s really NOT. THAT. HARD!! I get soooo annoyed when I read about this kind of rampant stupidity. And, it’s not new! My Grandfather warned me about going to war with Americans before I deployed to Cambodia. He was right. And nothing had changed. Amazing. Or… It should be amazing. But it isn’t. Really. *shrug*
13 Bryan { 08.07.10 at 9:58 pm }: When you are dealing with people who can’t even figure out that you don’t write down the names of informants, you give them a code name, what can you expect. When I read about the actual name of informants appearing in low-level after action reports I couldn’t believe it. No one above you needs the name as it adds nothing to the report. They will track on the code name to determine how reliable the informant is.

You don’t risk informants like that because something like the Wikileaks document dump is always a possibility, and there is the more probable situation of moles, and even having a site overrun in combat.

These people train and think about conventional warfare. A couple of months of training is not going to change that, you need different people working the problem.

To be successful, Afghanistan needed to be a police action – literally. You need people who think like cops, not infantry. You need people who don’t react by blowing up everything in sight; who actually aim when they fire their weapons; who won’t endanger civilians. Collateral damage is not acceptable to police officers.

The reality is that this war was lost when the US just left after the mujaheddin pushed out the Soviets. If the CIA et al. had honored their commitments and made the investment then, al Qaeda would not have been able to establish itself. It still wouldn’t have been a nation, because it never was, but it wouldn’t have been a problem, and it wouldn’t be the world’s largest producer of opium.

Americans can’t think in terms of decades and centuries any more. That went away under Reagan.
14 Kryten42 { 08.07.10 at 11:39 pm }: The reality is that this war was lost when the US just left after the mujaheddin pushed out the Soviets. If the CIA et al. had honored their commitments and made the investment then, al Qaeda would not have been able to establish itself. It still wouldn’t have been a nation, because it never was, but it wouldn’t have been a problem, and it wouldn’t be the world’s largest producer of opium.

That’s that nail, right there! Honestly, nobody trusts the USA, and hasn’t for a long time. We know that, but too many fools have this stupid *hit and run* mentality! This insane *Mission Accomplished* Hollywood bravado that’s as fake is it is insincere. They are fooling nobody but themselves. Our tiny spec of the Universe hates a vacuum. And when you leave a place, something will always be ready to fill it. I couldn’t count the number of times the USA has done it, and how many times the World (and especially) the USA has paid the price. The USA truly is incapable of learning.

Sorry to say m8… But after my experiences in Cambodia, which was a *Police Action*, the USA can’t get that right either! We spent more time cleaning up the mess they made than doing the job we were supposed to be doing, hunting KR Warlords! And because of that, dozens of villages and thousands of innocents died. AND, we only had to be there in the first f*kin place because of the usual insane US meddling in things they don’t understand one bit, and should stay the hell out of! I tell you for certain, If I’d seen Kissinger or any of those other dumb-arsed bastards, I would have happily put a bullet between the eyes! So, you can understand why I’m not terribly forgiving! However, I have met some sane and intelligent American’s, and for the most part, they are as angry about it as I am. Some even emigrated because they couldn’t stand it any longer. And sure, we are not perfect either! And I’ve always admitted it. But we are NOT responsible for countless war-crimes either, and we don’t take *friendly fire* for granted, or like it’s some kind of acceptable part of being in the Military! If they tried that here, we’d have the smallest army in the World! Few here would be stupid enough to join when you have as much chance of being killed by your own as the enemy!

I know you are pissed off too. You have sen it from all angles, Military, Intel and Police. I wish I knew what the answer was. I really dunno! Hell… I don’t even know what to do with the stupid path we seem to be taking here! *shrug*

The whole World is insane if anyone asks me!

You know, Every New Years Eve, I do one thing, and have done for 30 years or so. I ask myself: “If I could live anywhere right now, where would that be?” And you know, It used to be a fun diversion, but damned hard to pick just one because there were so many choices! 🙂 Now… I’m damned if I can think of anywhere, apart from some cave *somewhere* where the nearest human is well over a hundred miles away! And that’s a tragedy.
15 Bryan { 08.08.10 at 7:51 pm }: We seek the mythical “Wanker-Free Zone” where politics is based on reality, not ideology; where you aren’t constantly banging your head on the desk after hearing “leaders” speak; where the people in media actually know something about the topic being discussed; where someone remembers what “the good old days” were actually like.

I fear that the election of Ronald Reagan was a decision point, and instead of a bright future of solar, wind, and fusion energy, and people volunteering to be on the first craft to leave the solar system, we are stuck with the universe that thinks George W. Bush was qualified to lead a country, as was Tony Blair and John Howard.

We need a time machine, mate. The model that allows you to jump to other universes when yours really sucks. Hell, we can’t even get cheap good beer that is widely available in this one, much less the flying cars we’ve been promised for decades.
16 Kryten42 { 08.08.10 at 9:38 pm }: Heh! I think Reagan was the one who really solidified the whole *Hollywood* style National Pride things. He was the catalyst if you like. But like here, it started long before. Howard was our Reagan, but the trouble was brewing long before. In fact, for us, the 80’s were just too damned good! We got far too complacent! Everyone was on the gravy train, even me. *sigh* We all should have realised it was too good to last. But like you and most Americans, we were to busy to notice, having too much fun! Then it was too late. *shrug* Same in the UK, Blair was their Reagan (well, the *latest* Reagan! They had a few before!) 😆

You know, this is appropriate here, because I lay a large part of the blame on the MSM (globally, not just USA) and Journalists. That corruption of honest Journalism began before Reagan, but was entrenched with Reagan, and here with Howard, etc. I blame Murdock, and he should be the first to the gallows, along with Black and a couple other Billionaire greedy bastards. 😉

I like that BTW… “Wanker-Free Zone” 😆 Should make a T-shirt m8! 😀

I haven’t actually given up yet… but it’s damned hard not to! Even Jon Stewart finally had enough! He started a new segment called “I Give Up!”. Watch the episode (if you haven’t seen it). And it made me almost cry out in anguish too! And I’m not American! 🙁

The guest was an Author and Vietnam Vet, who tells an amazing (good for a change) story! 😀 I’d be interested in that book. 🙂 I’ll have to look.

TDS – August 04, 2010 – Bruce Henderson

BTW, I really don’t think Jon was faking it, or just being the comedian. The humor in this show wasn’t as full on as usual. He got in a few good laughs, but that’s his job. For the most part, he was pissed.
17 Bryan { 08.08.10 at 10:59 pm }: That episode is exactly what is going on in Congress, and Obama and the Democrats refuse to do anything about it. Only a few people like Weiner and Grayson are calling out the Republicans on the crap they are pulling, and the media just ignores it.

Harry Reid should have had bunk beds installed in the Senate and refused to adjourn until legislation got passed or the Republicans had to hold the floor and debate. People need to know what is going on, and the media aren’t telling them.

Since they changed the rules and allowed the media to be concentrated, the news has become entertainment, not information. Murdock and Black may be the most visible, but they weren’t the first. This is another “gift” from Reagan to the corporations.

Looking at the pattern, what seems to be going in in the so-called developed world is a shrinking of the “pie”, i/e/ the economies are shrinking in size as the wealth is being concentrated at the top. This is what happens with a “jobless recovery”, the actual market is down-sized, with fewer people able to participate.

The bloody stupid economists that everyone reads don’t seem to have figured this out.
18 Kryten42 { 08.09.10 at 3:13 am }: The media? You mean the dumb-ass bimbo bobble heads that don’t know *WHAT* Weiner was screaming about? I mean… you know, it’s just *such* a turn-off!! That media you mean? If there was any case for sterilization of some parents, that would do it for me!

That’s not even entertainment! You’d HAVE to have an IQ below 10 to find that entertaining, whilst you drool all over yourself! *shaking head* 😉 😆

A—mazing! 😉

Maybe people could have taken a clue and maybe realised how bad old Rupert is when his own kids left him because they couldn’t stand his BS views! 😆

Speaking of Mnster’s spawn… I see Liz Cheney is now a solid chip off the old ‘who gives a f*ck what people think?’ block! 😆

Sadly, it seems that the only economists people want to listen too, are the ones with a vested interest in keeping their jobs, or tenure! And people don’t find it a little strange that those ones are basically saying the same thing, but the ones who are not ass-kissing sycophants say the opposite!

It is to laugh! Hah ha haaaa… Ha!
19 Bryan { 08.09.10 at 10:55 pm }: The worst part for me is that when you are right, you are never asked back. The “experts” consulted by the media are a bunch of losers.

As near as I can tell the basis for being selected as an “expert” is to reinforce the conventional wisdom. If you agree with what “everyone knows” and don’t challenge the morons at the microphones, you will be called constantly.
20 Kryten42 { 08.10.10 at 6:52 am }: Yeah, but I think that mostly comes back to *keeping my job whatever I have to do*! And that goes for the media bobble heads as well as the so-called *experts* (like Joe the Plumber)! It’s pretty damned obvious few, if any, of them have been hired because they have any brains or any integrity, or even a minor clue. Hell, many of them had jobs previously like ‘Hooters Waitress’, ‘Playboy Bunny’, Pizza delivery guy’ etc, etc! 😆 So, it’s a step down really. At least thay had *honest* jobs before! 😀

Here’s some news to make you smile! Made me damned laugh actually! 😆 😆

10 Things Microsoft did wrong in fiscal 2010

A couple highlights:

8. Failed to buy Palm. In December 2009, I gave 10 good reasons why Microsoft should buy Palm. Microsoft’s failure to seize the opportunity led to a bidding war (which included Apple) that ended with HP buying Palm. HP was Microsoft’s principle Windows tablet partner and a major Windows mobile licensee . Suddenly HP is a mobile competitor. A Microsoft Palm acquisition would have instantly given Microsoft’s renewed mobile strategy a jumpstart. Now Microsoft struggles on two mobile fronts — smartphones and tablets.

In a startling trend, four of the top 10 smartphone vendors in second quarter predominately shipped Android handsets, according to IDC. These vendors had 100 percent year-over-year growth rates. As for tablets, Apple shipped 3.2 million units in the launch quarter, encroaching on a category Microsoft had been trying to build up for nearly a decade. The point: Mobile competition is stiffer than ever, and Microsoft needed something in fiscal 2010; Palm could have been it.

10. Let Don Dodge and Chris Liddell get away. Liddell proved to be an exceptionally adept Microsoft CFO. He managed Microsoft finances in better times and bad, doing a resoundingly good job overseeing difficult cost cutting as global economic crisis sapped software sales. Liddell has an excellent relationship with Wall Street analysts. There is simply no excuse for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his board of directors letting Liddell leave for General Motors. No incentive should have been enough to keep him, although given Liddell’s tight-fisted financial operations during the econolypse, as CFO he might not have allowed it. How ironic is that?

Dodge, Microsoft’s ambassador to Silicon Valley, was the most surprising of the company’s fiscal 2010 layoffs. Microsoft lost three things with Dodge:

* Vital experience sussing out good startups
* Someone well respected in Silicon Valley
* An ally, who became a competitive enemy

In mid November 2009, less than two weeks after being laid off by Microsoft, Dodge took a job with Google. How the frak did Microsoft executives not see that one coming?

Yeah… 😆 😆 😆 😈
21 Kryten42 { 08.10.10 at 7:05 am }: BTW… Did you know that one of the economics experts regularly listened too and reported in the press, is The Dweeb (Gates)? 😉

We are saddened to find that Slashdot still advertises every word that Bill Gates utters as though he’s Mr. Know All (he did not even graduate). Last year we explained the failure of some mainstream media by showing that it quotes Gates extensively on matters of macro-economics (the global financial crisis), even though he is not an economist, neither by training nor profession. Gates is just a big “brand name”, but for accurate analysis people ought to approach doctors and professors in their respective fields, not self-glorifying celebrities (rich people do employ RP agencies and artists typically have their label assign PR agents to manage public perceptions). Watch Gates and his private longtime booster Ina Fried (shameless PR) pulling another Gates “Know-It-All” piece. There are dozens like these every week and it’s intended to give Gates a status of authority, perhaps to make him seem like a Jack of all trades whose opinion cannot and should not be questioned. Watch out for this type of stuff which suppresses challenging of authority. There were other people before Gates who were groomed in this way; some were incredibly destructive at the end.

In the previous post we showed the role of PR in Gates’ hijack of US eduction. He would never have managed to get this far without a lot of PR, especially having acquired the reputation of a felon during his days at Microsoft. In recent months we also showed how Gates was taking more control of public libraries across the US, putting Windows in them rather than GNU/Linux which makes a lot of sense in a lot of libraries.

Bill Gates Sells Drugs in Less Developed Nations (for Profit)

(Have to scroll down a bit for the above, 2nd section of the piece). 🙂
22 Bryan { 08.10.10 at 4:34 pm }: I don’t know how they could stop at ten, with so much to choose from, Kryten.

Bill’s wife is the driving force behind the “charitable venture”, but Bill just can’t stop being a scorpion, so he continues to screw people over, even when he is supposed to be helping them.

All of this is explained by Max Headroom: The Complete Series which just became available in the US. The amazing thing is that this series was actually broadcast on a US network in the 1980s. They only did one season because the executives finally figured out that they were “the bad guys”.
23 Kryten42 { 08.10.10 at 9:11 pm }: Ahhh yes! I have all the Max Headroom series! Was a huge hit here! I still watch it from time-to-time! PMSL

Well, it was only a ‘top 10’ list. 😉 Wilcox did OK really, hit the… lowlights! You can tell he scored well… Read the comments? LMAO All the M$ fanboys are screaming! 😆

I love hearing an M$ fanboy scream more than a stuck pig! Even more than a GOP fanboy!! 😈
24 Kryten42 { 08.10.10 at 9:14 pm }: BTW, one of my favorite TV series at the moment is The IT Crowd.

It’s a hilarious spoof, but for anyone who has worked in an IT department for a Corp… it’s soooo close to the truth! 😀

Sadly, the seasons are short! But still… a great laugh! 😀
25 Bryan { 08.10.10 at 11:13 pm }: I just don’t understand people who feel the need to defend corporations.

My Mother was looking at T-shirts in one of the catalogs she gets and one said:

It only took one man to build the Ark, but it took a corporation to build the Titanic.

If I like a product I’ll promote it, but I’m not going to justify the business practices of the companies that make it. I know that the name on the label belongs to the people who are marketing it, because it has been years since most companies designed and built their own products.

Most large corporations are reduced to their marketing departments. Why get upset about an agitprop group?

I pity anyone who has tied themselves to Microsoft.
26 Kryten42 { 08.11.10 at 8:03 am }: I pity anyone who has tied themselves to Microsoft.

yeah… I used to. But there is no excuse these days, other than utter stupidity. And I’ve never been able to pity stupidity. 😉

Speaking of MSM, Murdock, etc… Seen this (from TP)?

Fox analyst slams Republicans for forgetting their ‘oath to uphold the Constitution.’

I just can’t help finding that funny on so many levels! 😆 😆
27 Kryten42 { 08.11.10 at 11:46 am }: Hey! Maybe the Bushmoron wasn’t *quite* as bad as he could have been after all! 😉 😆

In a new article on the possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reports that, when in office, “even Bush balked at attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, and discouraged the Israelis from carrying out the attack on their own.” Goldberg also reports Bush’s attitude toward those anxious for the U.S. to get into yet another war in the Middle East:

Bush would sometimes mock those aides and commentators who advocated an attack on Iran, even referring to the conservative columnists Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol as “the bomber boys,” according to two people I spoke with who overheard this.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has admitted that he was in favor of a U.S. attack on Iran, but was vetoed by President Bush. This is the first indication we’ve seen, however, that Bush thought that Kristol and Krauthammer are as crazy as the rest of us do.

Bush mockingly referred to Kristol and Krauthammer as ‘the bomber boys.’

Personally, I would have called them “Those evil twin homicidal lunatics” (at least, when I was being polite!)

So… It COULD have been worst after all! 😉
28 Kryten42 { 08.11.10 at 11:53 am }: Oh… And speaking of evil lunatics… here’s my #2 female in that race, though she is almost neck-and-neck #1!

Hispanic media: Sharron Angle is shutting us out.

Obviously, the moron has never heard the phrase “Cutting off your nose to spite your face”. Or, is the moron has, the moron doesn’t have a clue what it means. How moronic can a Politician be who doesn’t even know how to be a Politician (ie. “It’s all about the PR baby!” or: “The biggest baby-kissing, sucking-up, ass-kisser wins”!) 😆

She even fails Politics 101! Of course, that’s a really good thing for you guys in Reality Land! 😉 😀
29 Bryan { 08.11.10 at 8:09 pm }: Angle is part of one of the whacko religious fundamentalist groups who are working towards the “Second Coming” and end of the world.

The Republicans had a golden opportunity to take out Harry Reid, but decided to let the crazies nominate their candidate. Angle won against the woman who thought we should barter chickens for health care in the Republican primary.

Most people have a really hard time accepting how truly insane many of the people who have power and influence in the US really are. Your Cardinal Pell with his crusade against the Green Party is a model of normalcy by comparison.

Only those parts of the Constitution that seem to support their prejudices are considered sacred to Republicans.
30 Kryten42 { 08.11.10 at 9:28 pm }: LOL Yeah! (C. Pell!) Thing is, Pell is right about some of the Greens stupid agenda. It’s partly because of the greens the Black Sat firestorm killed so many and destroyed so much! They convinced the Gov to cut back on land clearing and burning off pre fire season. They argument that it destroyed valuable habitats… Sorry, but the math’s don’t add up a bit! For the sake of a several thousand habitats (and they would have been relocated) millions were destroyed! I consider myself a good conservationist, but these morons are lunatics!

As far as the *Ender* Lunatics… I don’t understand why the hell you lot just don’t give them what they want! Just shoot them or something! Geez! The entire World will love you for it!
31 Bryan { 08.12.10 at 12:31 am }: What would be really effective would be the “discovery” of thousands of Qurans with fake covers that said “The Holy Bible” at their “churches”.

It’s a good things that the US doesn’t do that sort of thing… well, normally… for a given value of normal 😈

I blame their parents letting them outside in the summer without hats. Their brains are baked.
32 Kryten42 { 08.12.10 at 9:10 pm }: 😆 Yeah, really! 😈

Well… Here’s another contender for Top Moron (and why… seriously! Why are so many women in Government so damned stupid? I thought they were *supposed* to be brighter than men??! You wouldn’t know it judging by the percentage of female morons in the Senate & Congress! I guess that was another *urban myth*!) 😛 And no… I am not bashing women per se… Just stating the obvious as far as the US Government goes! The females who visit here seem pretty sane. 😉 At least, by comparison. Which, I do realise, isn’t much of a comparison! 😈 😛

Nikki Haley’s ‘Jobs Plan’: Eliminating Corporate Taxes And $260 Million In State Revenue

Geez… what a maroon!

And really, apologies to the sane ladies who visit here. I’m sure you all wish these morons would disappear also. 😉
33 Kryten42 { 08.12.10 at 9:16 pm }: Ahem. To be *fair and balanced*! Here is the male maroon! 😉 Though…He’s not in Government, officially. He’s just one of the blowhards that steers the Gov! Thanks to TP:

Beck attacks CAP for proposing small education cuts, but he wants to ‘get rid of’ the entire Education Department.

*SIGH* Really, this absolute moron makes even some of the Gov morons seems sane!
34 Bryan { 08.12.10 at 11:20 pm }: The GOP apparently trains their candidates who are women in an alternate universe where they are taught to ignore the rampant sexism in this country. Apparently they believe that since there was a feminist movement, sexism no longer exists or is part of “the natural order”, so they are free to be crazy in public because that’s what’s acceptable to the GOP base.

As for trying to determine the sex of Republican politicians or ranters – I’m staying away from that one. I think it’s a specialized skill, like sexing chickens. Even being near them gives me the creeps. I think anyone who claims they support “family values” should immediately be put on the sex offenders list and be kept away from children and farm animals.
35 Kryten42 { 08.12.10 at 11:28 pm }: I think anyone who claims they support “family values” should immediately be put on the sex offenders list and be kept away from children and farm animals.

YUP! Agree 100% with that, and I’ve said it before also!

As for trying to determine the sex of Republican politicians or ranters – I’m staying away from that one. I think it’s a specialized skill, like sexing chickens. Even being near them gives me the creeps.

Hmmm! Ya know… That’s a very valid point! I hadn’t though of it that way! My head doesn’t hurt as much if I don’t think of *them* as male or female. Many of them have proven to be rather asexual and amoral, so it’s appropriate! 😈
36 JuanitaM { 08.13.10 at 10:16 am }: As for trying to determine the sex of Republican politicians or ranters – I’m staying away from that one. I think it’s a specialized skill, like sexing chickens. Even being near them gives me the creeps.

Hilarious! You have a wicked sense of humor, truly.

The females who visit here seem pretty sane.

And we appreciate that. Kryten, we understand how you feel. Actually, after watching our media for a while (ladies or gents alike), I wonder if I’m the one that’s really crazy. Is it me or is it them? After a while, my eyes start rolling around in my head, and I don’t know anymore.
37 JuanitaM { 08.13.10 at 11:01 am }: Going back to a prior subject in this post:

I pity anyone who has tied themselves to Microsoft.

Do you guys exclusively use Linux? After years of using all Microsoft products, I got sick of having to pay hundreds of dollars for Word, Outlook, etc. every time I bought a new machine. But I’ve slowly been weaning myself by going to open source with most of my programs. Free is good.

I’d like to get completely away from Microsoft, but I’ve heard that you need to be a trained programmer for Linux. Is that true?
38 Bryan { 08.13.10 at 5:19 pm }: Kryten you need to understand that in my family women worked. Those that were on farms made their own butter and egg money, or money from their kitchen gardens that was separate from the main income of the farm, generally poultry or dairy.

They also worked outside their homes as teachers, cheesemakers, factory workers, and one of my great-great grandmothers was a cook on a canal boat.

They also had opinions, and didn’t have a problem expressing them. I would have loved the carnage if Bill O’Reilly told my Great Grandmother Emhof to shut up. I will say that if she decided to garrot him, it would be with a tatted garrot with pansies worked into the handles at both ends.

This Republican model “of a woman’s place” doesn’t work for me. I have no experience with that. It is just foreign. I mean, who did they think was working in the “cottage industries” that pre-dated industrialization?

If people really look at the lives of the people who settled in this country, they would realize that only in the upper classes could women afford not to work. And even in those cases they hired other women to work for them.

Yes, Juanita, working in intel and law enforcement does tend to warp your outlook on the world.

As for linux, I use it for preference because it generally just runs and does its job without drama. Unless you are trying to something unusual, it is no more difficult that Windows now that there are applications like Open Office that work very much as their Windows counterparts. It has never been any more difficult to use than CPM or MS-DOS which were the systems used by regular people at the beginning of the microcomputer “revolution” and normal people worked with those systems for years before the Mac and Windows were introduced.

The advantage to Linux if you are a programmer is that you can customize the system to do exactly what you want, some that is nearly impossible in Windows. The newest versions of Ubantu Linux are very similar to the Windows experience with a graphical interface.

If you have used computers for a while it really isn’t that bad or difficult. The $100 laptop that was designed for kids in developing country used Linux, so it doesn’t have to be difficult.

The best thing to do is try it to see if you like it. I think that they allow you to set up your computer to boot from multiple operating systems so you don’t have to just dump Windows if you only have one computer available, and there is a lot of support on the Internet.
39 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 2:00 am }: I’ll reply to Juanita first (after all, I was raised by my mom to be a gentleman (and my maternal Grandfather made damned sure of it!!) 😆 ) In all honesty and seriousness, I’ll treat everyone as they deserve. I really don’t care about male vs female etc. I’ve had male & female bosses, both good and bad. Quite possible the best boss I ever worked for was a woman (a very tough little (I’m 5’11” she was 5’3″) fiery redhead) that when she was on the warpath, scared me more than most men! She kicked my butt a couple times when I deserved it, and that was the end of it! But she also was like a bear protecting a cub when someone else tried to give me a hard time, especially for no reason! I miss her actually. I worked for her for 3 years, and they were great. She brought out the nest in me, because I respected her enormously, and we became good friends. Sadly, she moved overseas about 10 years ago because of serious family problems back home, and we lost touch. Story of my life! 🙂 During the 80’s and most of the 90’s, I worked with men and women and we enjoyed working together. We were just all mates! We joked and went out together, and it was just all good fun and no hangups. Then all the Political Correctness crap became serious, and everyone got too nervous to even look at each other, let alone have any fun or joke etc! I’ll never forget a great PA I had when I had my business. A stunning tall blond (natural!) that had a great (and wicked) sense of humor! We trusted each other implicitly! I stole her from a major multinational that I used to work as a contractor for. 😆 She was bored to death there. Anyway… I think it was around ’92 when everyone went crazy about blond jokes! Was everywhere. So of course, I planned a few for my very blond PA! 😀 Next day when I arrived at my office, she came in and I smiled and said hello… and she had a stack of papers. I asked what they were, and she grinned with a wicked gleam in her eye, and said “Blond jokes! Let’s get this over with and get to work!” The look on my face must have been a prize, and she laughed hugely (she was a wonderful laugh though, so I didn’t really mind) and I naturally said “You bitch!” And laughed, and we were both laughing like fools and tears were streaming down both faces! Yeah… It was crazy, but we really got on so well! I was very proud of her… I finally convinced here that she was way too smart to do this kind of work, and helped her setup an Executive Placement Agency, which she still runs to this day, though it’s much bigger now! And I’m still as proud of her as I ever was! 😀 *sigh* Couldn’t do that now really. Sad.

Anyway, as for linux: No. NO. NO!! You do *NOT* have to be a programmer!! That’s one of M$ biggest lies! However, that said… It does get confusing because, by it’s very open nature, there are many *flavors* (distributions), and it’s difficult to know what to get started with. 🙂 Some can be very technical or *geeky* because they are designed for geeks! 😀 But at the other end, there are those designed to help Windoze users move to Linux. 🙂

One of Linux’s great strengths, is that you don’t need the latest and most powerful hardware to run it (unlike Windoze 7 for example). There are still current distributions of linux that will happily run on an old 486 processor with 1MB RAM and less than 1GB disk space. 😉

Here’s a few links that may help:

Techrights. They publish all the M$/Novell/Apple etc. lies and distortions, and facts about Linux and FOSS (Free Open Source Software):

Techrights

It’s a HUGE site, and can get very technical. But has a lot for beginners also. Check out the links on the right side-bars.

The Blog of Helios

These guys are just amazing!! They do so much to help people realise how much M$ are lieing to them and severely ripping them off! The even go so far as to build and donate completely fully functional Linux based computer systems to kids and any group that needs them (mostly around Texas). 🙂 Read the first few blog entries for info and help. 🙂

Here is one blog post from a Linux user’s viewpoint of Windoze that may help. I find that sometimes it’s necessary to shift viewpoints to get a glance at the whole picture! 😉

6 things Microsoft needs to do before I’ll take Windows seriously

I’m only allowed 3 links in a post by Bryan’s totalitarian spam checker! 😛
So… to be continued…
40 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 7:35 am }: OK… onward! 😉

One of the great strengths of Linux over windows is that it’s easily customized to do a particular *thing* very well! And usually, not at the expense of the other parts. 🙂 Windows *tries to do it all* or, *be all things to all people*! And generally, fails dismally. There are now specialized linux distributions for specific areas. For example, if you want to create, modify, play music (audio production), there are a few (such as Musix GNU+Linux), if you want to create, edit or just play video’s (multimedia), there are several (such as Ubuntu Studio and dyne:bolic), if you want to play games, there are distro’s for that! If you want it for education, there are versions specifically tailored for education! Etc, etc. 🙂 And, you can have several variants (distributions) and have them configured with the same *look and feel*. Many do not even have to be installed, but will run happily from the CD/DVD (called LiveCD distributions, such as KNOPPIX). You don’t even have to get rid of Windoze! 😆

The LiveCD is a good way to get started actually. 🙂 You just have to configure your PC to boot from a CD before the hard drive first, and that’s it. All PC’s of the past decade can easily be configured at startup (via the BIOS) to do that. And… You can even Install some linux distr’s on a USB key to boot your system wherever you go! Lot easier to carry around a USB key (or USB pen drive) than a notebook! Just need someone’s PC or notebook, and away you go! 😀

There are several good Linux distr’s for beginners. 🙂 The linux fraternity have made great strides to make linux for newbies as easy as possible. 🙂

One of my fave’s is Kanotix Live-CD: Gentle Intro for Beginners

This is part of “Really Linux: International Site for Linux Beginners”. It’s members and visitors regularly come from around 150 Nations. 🙂

Here’s a fact for you! About 5 years ago, I helped some dear friends of mine move to linux from Windoze. The husband wasn’t that worried about the move, but the wife was very worried! But she wanted to move because she was even more scared of getting yet ANOTHEr virus/trojan/worm etc, when she opened up an email (in outlook), or chatted with her relatives via MSN, etc, etc! And she said that she found windows confusing (a lot of people don’t even know how to use more than 105 of windows functionality), and so on! So, I brought over a couple LiveCD’s and mu Linux on my USB pen, and I spent a day there. By the end of the day, she wanted me to leave my USB drive there! 😆 Now, she’s teaching others all about linux! She realised that she had been too afraid of breaking windoze to really dive into it! With linux, she didn’t have that restriction, and happily jumped in! Who knew that beneath that bored housewife lay a dynamo linux geek! She even taught herself all about using the command line and is discovering new things almost every day! There are so many good resources and really helpful forums and blogs for linux. She’s joined several and now helps others that are in her shoes from 5 years ago! 😀 A couple years ago, she demanded (mock angrily) why I hadn’t shown her linux years ago! *shrug* what could I say? 😉 😀

One other critique of Linux is that corporation don’t like it, don’t use it, etc. This is complete rubbish. 🙂 One of the largest of these Corporations, IBM, who created the PC, have in fact published a rather good “Windows-to-Linux roadmap”, way back in 2003, and have made it publicly available! 🙂 (No, IBM don’t like M$ or The Dweeb much at all!) I should note that this paper is intended for developers, and is a little dated, but is still useful for anyone.

Windows-to-Linux roadmap: Overview

Here is the site that explains how to run linux from a USB pen drive:

Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick

Linux really isn’t hard. 🙂 If anything, the hardest thing is choosing! 😀

Oh! A really nice linux distro for beginners is called Linux Mint. I can’t put another link, but it’s a simple one (without the spaces):
linuxmint . com

Hope this helps!
41 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 7:59 am }: So… Bryan! 😉 Your turn! 😆

yeah, I know. As I know I have mentioned before, my maternal family were farmers. 😉 My Mother ran away and joined the Navy (truly!) When I was a child, we had a very large back yard, and grew vegetables, fruits and raised chickens and had a cow and goat (and I had a dapple-grey horse, and pigeons, a cat, dog, and turtle)! It’s probably why i generally prefer animals to people. I’ve spent a lot of time with both, and on the whole, animals are much easier (especially to understand) and tend to give what they get! 😉 🙂

My mother passed away over a decade ago, and my grandparents a decade before. Any of them would have gladly shot a Republican, or a modern-day Liberal Party member here! They ALWAYS voted Labor Party here. 🙂 They would also all be completely disgusted by your Democrats, and our current Labor Party! If anyone ever tried to start a sentence in front of my Mother or Grandmother with “The Woman’s place is…” would have found it very difficult to complete that sentence unconscious! 😀 They did , however go out of their way to teach me proper manners and even etiquette! I had to read a chapter from the Vogue Book of Etiquette every week. And there were questions! 😉 And I was never so glad I did, than when I was in the intel biz! Came in VERY handy! 😀

It amuses me now just how many women or young ladies are surprised when I do something *Gentlemanly*, especially if they are strangers! In the *Politically Correct New World*, men simply do not do things like that!! For me, it’s automatic, I don’t think about it. *shrug* (Though I almost always have a private little smile afterwords! It’s a great way to worry people, without actually doing anything wrong!) 😈

Political Correctness is the worst invention of Man IMNSHO! And it was probably created by people who had no idea about etiquette, morals, ethics or even education! I am sure lawyers were involved, as they seem to be the biggest winners! Hasn’t done much, if anything, for male/female relations!

BTW, apologies for the typo’s here and above! I have stitches in one finger, and another two are rather sore. Makes things difficult. *shrug* (Codeine works great but!) 😀
42 JuanitaM { 08.14.10 at 11:47 am }: Wow! Thank-you, thank-you, guys! It sounds like I might be able to do this, and I really appreciate the encouragement.

I’ve got a two year old desktop that I never use because it always ran Windows a little slow for my taste, but it might be just the thing for a new “learning curve” with Linux. Bryan, I like the idea of Ubantu with the graphical interface, and Kryten, I’m bookmarking all those sites.

Bryan, I’m right there with you on the “less drama” thang. When I bought my laptop, I couldn’t use it for three hours because of all the downloading, updating, upgrading, getting a firewall, getting an anti-virus, several spyware programs, and I think that was all of it. But I could be forgetting something.

Ya’ll (remember I’m from the South 🙂 ) are great. I’ve noticed that almost all of the people that comment in your post have a common trait of loving animals and delight in nature. Seems like almost all of us have spent a large part of our growing years on farms or in rural locations. It might be part of why we all seem to connect here at your blog, Bryan. I grew up in a run-down two-story farmhouse living with an extended family.

My grandmother (whose name was Maggie Mae, no less, although we just shortened it to Mag) kept chickens, bantams, and ducks. When I was little, she had a Jersey cow for milk. Then there was the assorted dogs, cats, and rabbits. And the neighbor kept his mule in our barn. Loved that mule. One of my prized memories about the barn was the summer that a neighbor friend and I decided that a great new game would be climbing to the roof of the barn and jumping off. It was great fun until my mother found out.

And, yeah, Mag was one independent person. She was considered quite a looker in her day, and grew up during the Roaring Twenties. I have pictures of her with her first car and her best friend, Fanny. She wasn’t overtly tough, and she enjoyed company and people, but there was no way you were going to get her to do anything she didn’t want. Having a mind of her own doesn’t even touch it.

Unfortunately, she became diabetic (she was one of those diabetics that never gained weight) and lost her eyesight. But she didn’t let that keep her down. I still remember the day someone told her a dirty joke, and she called all her sixty-something lady friends to share it with them. To this day, I can still hear them all cackling.
43 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 2:56 pm }: No problem Juanita. 🙂 Glad to be of some help. 🙂

Do check out the Linux Mint site. 🙂 They have a pretty good user forum, and it was designed to be easy to use. They do have a few *flavors* (It’s based on Ubuntu, with different graphical user interfaces & desktops. The simplest is to stick with the main one to start with.) 🙂 They have a CD version and a DVD version that can be downloaded. Also, I’d go with the 32-bit version (also called x86) for simplicity sake. The only real advantage of the 64-bit versions is the ability to address more than 4GB RAM and slightly better performance on newer processors. That’s the same with Windoze BTW, except that the 32-bit Windoze can’t address more than about 3.2GB RAM. You *loose* the rest because of the fact that even Windoze 7 is still based on legacy ancient DOS (as a rather simplistic explanation!) 😉

I’ve come to think that the common denominator for Bryan’s blog is the ability to think rationally, and to think for oneself. The animal thing is either a coincidence, or perhaps part of the ability to think rationally. That plus the fact that the regulars actually seem to give a damn about the planet we live on, though, I put that under the *rational thinking* column too! We do have a couple masochists occasionally that seem to enjoy getting their heads kicked in. *shrug* To each there own! 😆 And, Bryan says they help with his anger management! (Mine to I must admit!) 😈

Oh! Heres a site that’s also for linux beginners. This article lists the linux equivalent of many wondoze software. 🙂

Linux Equivalents to Windows Software – Migrating from Windows to Linux v1.81

You will enjoy Linux. Almost everyone I have migrated to Linux has never looked at Windoze again! They enjoy the freedom, power and great flexibility, and they fact that they can experiment (or *play around* as most put it) without worrying that it will have a melt down like Windows usually did for them! 😀

I’m glad you have some great memories of your forebears. 🙂 I know mine help keep me sane, and I need all the help I can get these days! 😆 😉

Cheers, and good luck! 😀 Just holler if you need anything. 🙂
44 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 3:00 pm }: *sigh* Sorry… I seem to have stuffed up that Linux mint link above! 🙁

Linux Mint

Linux Mint 9 Info & Download

Linux Mint Blog

What the hey! 😉
45 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 3:12 pm }: PS. If these kids can do it… I’m sure you won’t have too much trouble! 😉

The Future of IT…Here They Are.

And… I seem to have stuffed up another link! Yeah… that would be typical right now! 😐
46 Bryan { 08.14.10 at 11:22 pm }: Most everyone who stops by is a Southerner here, Juanita. Kryten is from Southern Australia and Jams is from Southern Britain, but all Southerners.

Lady Min is from Northern Illinois but that’s the Southern end of Lake Michigan. 😉

The reality is that the operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux, whatever is the backdrop for what you want to do. People want to use computers to do things, like e-mail and wordprocessing, and those are done by applications, not the operating system. Ideally the operating system should be invisible and most good ones are after they are installed. That’s my biggest annoyance with Windows – it intrudes. You have to constantly do something to Windows. Even worse some of the “fixes” to Windows break the programs that you use every day. It just isn’t very friendly, and it increases your costs.

You can mess around with Linux to your heart’s content, but you don’t have to. If things are working the way you want them to work you can pretty much ignore it and just use the computer to do what you want to do.
47 Kryten42 { 08.14.10 at 11:48 pm }: Well… The biggest difference really between linux and Windoze/OSX, is that linux (the actual Linux itself, the kernel) *IS* simply an OS (Operating System). The UI (User Interface) is a layer on top, as it should be, and there are several to choose from to suit. Windoze & OSX on the other hand, try to integrate everything and the user get’s a big bloated system that is slow, and they also get no choice, except for cosmetic choices. There were some alternatives for OSX, but Apple are like M$ and are making it as difficult as possible for developers, unless they pay a lot in royalties. As far as I am concerned, there is little difference between M$ & Apple.
48 Bryan { 08.15.10 at 12:59 am }: Well, OSX is better integrated and less hassle than Windows, but they want an arm and a leg for software. “Ease of use” is very expensive. and customizing is very limited.

I have little patience with people who don’t know what I do, telling me that they know better than I do how it should be done.
49 Kryten42 { 08.15.10 at 11:49 pm }: LOL Yeah, I admit that OS X is less hassle than Windows (but then again, so was DOS!) 😈 😉 I still have my old 1GHz G4 Titanium PowerBook, and it still works (though, I have had to replace the hinges twice, it is a notorious design problem. I still have 1 spare set of hinges! Was handy being Svc Manager! LOL A normal user would be screwed!) It does, however, run OS X v10.5 (Leopard) with the max RAM it supports, 512MB! Try doing THAT wth Windows 7, or Vista… or even XP! 😛

Mind you… I do have to disable all the cutesy (and mostly useless) graphics stuff (kinda like Win7 resource consuming Aero rubbish)! 😉 😀

I actually run Linux on the G4. And it runs very well! I have two other HDD’s with OS 9 and one with OS X that I can swap the Linux drive for, if I should ever feel the need. (Was useful when I was doing Dev work, which is why I got the G4 originally). 🙂
50 Bryan { 08.16.10 at 12:59 pm }: Working for clients is they only reason I still have Wintel boxes around. If clients would just accept reality, I would never have to deal with M$ again. That would be my version of heaven – no corporate crap that I’m required to subsidize.
51 Kryten42 { 08.16.10 at 2:15 pm }: I was explaining to some young hopefuls why The Dweeb is a criminal and a lying SOB that can’t be trusted. After many posts in the Dev forum where this all took place, it seems I have several *believers*! LOL One of the comments I posted was:

That letter, and others, proves what a lying SOB crook gates is! In his book, he says:

Quote:
He licensed a CP/M-compatible OS called QDOS (“Quick and Dirty Operating System”) from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products for $56,000, and IBM shipped it as PC-DOS.

Well, that an outright lie, that’s easily proven by court records and IBM documents!

Quote:
Microsoft purchased a nonexclusive license for 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products in December 1980 for $25,000. In May 1981, it hired Tim Paterson to port the system to the IBM-PC, which used the slower and less expensive Intel 8088 processor and had its own specific family of peripherals. IBM watched the developments daily, submitted over 300 change requests before it accepted the product and wrote the user manual for it.

In July 1981, a month before the PC’s release, Microsoft purchased all rights to 86-DOS from SCP for $50,000. It met IBM’s main criteria: it looked like CP/M, and it was easy to adapt existing 8-bit CP/M programs to run under it, notably thanks to the TRANS command which would translate source files from 8080 to 8086 machine instructions. Microsoft licensed 86-DOS to IBM, and it became PC-DOS 1.0. This license also permitted Microsoft to sell DOS to other companies, which it did. The deal was spectacularly successful, and SCP later claimed in court that Microsoft had concealed its relationship with IBM in order to purchase the operating system cheaply. SCP ultimately received a 1 million dollar settlement payment.

That’s quite a bit different, and very typical of The Dweeb I know!
The guy couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it.

You can see what a capitalist he is from this letter (whine) he sent out to the Computer Hobbyist Community in Feb 1976!

http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.html

I figure that at this rate… I should have the World convinced in a decade or so! Ahhh… my *new* life’s work! 😉
52 Bryan { 08.16.10 at 4:23 pm }: Microsoft had a decent traffic counter, and BASIC, but everything else was created by someone else, then bought or “borrowed” by Microsoft. If you write the code. you can explain the choices. If you didn’t write the code, you have no idea why certain choices were made. Bill and Paul didn’t know a lot about many of their products when they stopped by SoCal user groups. “Woz” always knew.
53 Kryten42 { 08.19.10 at 10:22 am }: Yup! 😀 Though, the traffic counter thing was a company Gates had with Allen & Gilbert called Traf-O-Data before Micro-Soft, which went on to become that monster we hate today! 😆 Actually, that whole thing with the traffic counter was more complicated, though of course as always, Gates takes all the credit! Fact is, he was still in high school with Allen, and nether had an iota of hardware design experience or knowledge. Through a complex series of events and people, they were led to a guy called Paul Gilbert, who was an EE student working at a UW Physics Lab. They convinced Gilbert by offering a partnership, to build a computer system for the traffic data monitoring from a magazine computer project. They never gave the magazine any credit. 🙂 So the fact is, The Dweeb has always been a lying crook! 😀

I just read a post at TP about a Journalist I remember reading about a couple years ago. It seems there are still a few ethical, honest journalists around. Though his ethics and honesty got him fired (of course!) It’s an interesting read.

Comcast Threw Local Boston Reporter Under The Bus To Appease Fox News And Bill O’Reilly

Then of course, we have the opposite end of the scale, a complete lack of morals or ethics:
Fox News stays silent on News Corp’s controversial $1 million donation to Republicans.

Which is also, of course, to be expected! 😉 😀
54 Bryan { 08.19.10 at 9:35 pm }: Well, Fox doesn’t exactly highlight the fact that after Rupert the largest number of shares in News Corp belong to a nephew of the Saudi king, but I’m sure that no one in interested in the fact that a Saudi prince is a major presence in Western media. 😈

I had a client, a traffic engineer, who used the counter. It worked well.