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Ambiance Evolution Theme

Trying another theme for the brand new Ubuntu 11.04 now.  Ambiance Evolution looks very sharp. What with the bordeless windows. When I did the installation and started using it I was pleasantly  surprised with the look it gave Banshee, the default media player for Ubuntu 11.04.  Wow.

You Are Invited To Diaspora

Diaspora is a distributed social network that champions privacy and your power over the things you create and share with friends and only with your friends. Diaspora is open source which means its code is accessible for perusal and inspection. Why do we need another Facebook? Because if you came here looking for it, then I say there is a need for it. This is Diaspora.

Linux Rant (just this once)

Don't click links from unknown sources in your email. Don't download anti-virus software you encountered while browsing something else. Update the software you're using. Delete away software you're not using. I guess this is why I think Chrome OS is a good idea. The idea here is an operating system that's kept in the cloud. Every time you boot into this OS it checks the system files. No rootkits right there. If Google wants to work a security patch, it's done in the background. If you've been using it a while and suddenly you feel paranoid about the computer, all you have to do is re-boot and accept the 'cloud' version instead of your local OS. Lately, a bunch of companies with business models anchored in the cloud got their security broken. There are a lot of security issues with cloud services. There are a lot of privacy issues with cloud services. Many of these services were not thought through very well. I don't have the level of ...

Freedom Riders: What Is A Hero?

Civil rights is a long struggle and most often involved challenging authority and facing violence. In 1961 the Supreme court of the US ruled that segregation in Federal facilities is unconstitutional. Groups advocating civil rights tested this ruling by riding in nonsegregated buses up to southern states like Mississippi and Alabama. These interstate buses were legally obliged to follow the supreme court ruling even in places where segregation was still practiced and enforced. One iconic image of the freedom riders is that of Jim Zwerg. from Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia. Freedom riders knew or expected to be stopped or arrested for violating local laws.  What they did not count on was the degree of hate and violence waiting for them in bus stops and roads. The first freedom riders were to arrive in New Orleans May 17th but in May 14th in Birmingham, Alabama a mob attacked the freedom riders. Freedom riders sat side by side with another person in the bus regardles...

An Old Skill Comes To The Fore

If you happen to be geek, there’s a lot to like about Unity. It invests heavily in keyboard shortcuts, a strategy that arguably makes window management more efficient than in any other desktop interface I’ve ever used — provided you learn the hotkeys. From the VAR guy I have been using Ubuntu 11.04 since early April before it was released as Final. It struck me that the developers made Unity specifically for 'keyboard' mode users. What I realized early on is that without typist skill and utilizing keyboard shortcuts I can't make 11.04 work for me with efficiency. What other users are shaking their heads over is the fact that you have to make extra clicks just to get where you want to go. This is not happening to me mainly because I use and depend on the keyboard and the OS keyboard shortcuts since I began using Ubuntu. I am a great fan of keyboard shortcuts and I've been typing my way through my work and blogs the way they taught me in high school-all t...

Comment On Sen.John McCain's Anti-Torture Speech

The comment section of a Youtube post is such a wealth of conversation from pundits and the general section of the gallery. The lie: @bsphenom We received the first hint of a particular curier(sic) over 4 years ago by the ksm. If we didn't have the start of that lead, it would never have been followed up on. Deny it all you need to, to make yourself feel better about your government and yourself. The majority of Americans know the truth/facts. The truth: @TheYoungTurdz Research that more. KSM actually LIED to us about the courier. KSM said the courier was now married to a tribal woman and living in Peshawar (tribal area). If anything, that led us in the wrong direction. That is probably why we were searching for caves, not in the suburbs of Islamabad near a military base. I actually used to support torture, but now I see I was wrong. These terrorists are TRAINED to evade torture. They know how to lie very well even under torture. notes: KSM=k...

Reveal The System Settings In Ubuntu 11.04

After installing Ubuntu 11.04, the next thing most users do is find their bearings and maybe ask some directions. What they see is the Unity launcher with the application launchers and the home folder. Now if you're like me, you may want to change the background, the font and some of the behavior of your default desktop. Nothing is more convenient than a single window, a center, where all the controls are. You can find the different settings in the System Settings. So go the your dash and type System Settings. I suggest you put the system setting icon in the Unity launcher for now at least. If you don't mind the "HAL" icon there. Hi, dave.