Between today and tomorrow, the New FB Privacy setting called “Instant Personalization” goes into effect.
The new setting shares your data with non-FB sites & it is automatically set to “Enabled”.
Go to Account>Privacy Settings>Apps & Websites>Instant Personalization>edit settings & uncheck “Enable”.
BTW If your friends don’t do this, they will be sharing info about you as well
Warning: YouTube Rentals
Just wanted to pass along a message from The DRM elimination crew
If you’ve logged into YouTube recently, you’ve probably noticed that
they’re pushing their Rental service pretty hard. YouTube Rentals
brings full-length independent movies to YouTube, at a price — the
videos come with Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). This
about-face goes against exactly what made YouTube useful in the first
place — the sharing of video.* Read the full story now: http://defectivebydesign.org/youtube-rentals
What does this mean for YouTube users? DRM prohibits uses of the
videos that even US copyright law allows. DRMed videos can’t be saved for
later watching offline. You also can’t take an excerpt of a video and
use it in your video response — something a lot of people do with
existing videos.## Take action!
* If you watch YouTube videos, help send a message against DRM by
refusing to “rent.”* If you share videos on YouTube, add this to your profile page:
“Thanks for checking out my videos. Please note: I don’t
use YouTube Rentals, and I hope you won’t either. Here’s
one reason why: http://defectivebydesign.org/youtube-rentals”* Share this page on your social networks — http://ur1.ca/4qdwd
* Read the full story: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/youtube-rentals
In solidarity,
Matt, John, Josh, Bob and Jonathan
The DRM elimination crew
Not all petitions are for good things
Why can’t I just let people on the internet be wrong, oh yeah they all get together and be wrong in petitions that get stuff done. I forgot I live in post 9/11 America were everyone has lost their damn minds!
Have fun reading the following from facebook. Whether you agree or not I won’t be reading any comments so don’t bother.
You don’t like GNOME 3? Do something about it!
If you don’t like GNOME 3 please do us all a favour and be quiet. Take that rage and do something useful; install KDE, use a real man’s (or woman’s) [or $nonMaleFemaleGenderIdentity] window manager like fluxbox, GNUstep, fvwm, or ratpoision, or… make GNOME 3 behave the way you want it too. Following are some easy theme changes or hacks. QUIT HATING START PARTICIPATING!!!!
GNOME 3 is ugly:
I got your ugly right here pal!
Nord is a new glassy GNOME Shell theme based on Zukitwo, created by WebUpd8 reader rAX.
Download it here : http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/nord-beautiful-glassy-gnome-shell-theme.html
But I want to theme!!
Well then do it!
ThemeSelector GNOME Shell extension is a new, unofficial GNOME Shell extension that adds a new tab in the Activities overview where all the GNOME Shell themes (not GTK themes!) installed under ~/.themes show up. To change a theme, all you have to do is click it and you don’t even have to reload GNOME Shell.
Well now get it on it! : http://www.webupd8.org/2011/04/themeselector-gnome-shell-extension-to.html
GNOME’s theme-ing is broken
Boom! solution for your MFA
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/fix-gnome-shell-to-work-with-user-theme.html
But I can’t live without the bottom bar!
POW! a bottom bar!
Bottom Panel is a new GNOME Shell extension which, as the name says, adds a bottom panel to GNOME Shell. The panel includes a window list, workspaces switcher which you can right click to set the number of workspaces and a button to display the message tray (because the tray hot corner is hidden by the panel).
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/bottom-panel-gnome2-like-panel-gnome.html
It’s pretty but I want it to act like GNOME 2!
Well then flip that switch!
The frippery extensions are intended to be used together to provide a GNOME 2-like experience.
GNOME 3: ifsaifhi, give me back gnome2!
FINE!
Project BlueBubble aims to bring Gnome 2.32 packages in a Fedora-15 compatible way, breaking the least amount of packages possible
Just make sure you RTFM http://k3rnel.net/2011/06/22/bluebubble-the-fine-manual/
**EDIT** I want my minimize button back
http://www.khattam.info/howto-add-minimize-maximizerestore-buttons-in-gnome-3-2011-05-26.html
Windows 8 Preview
Today our Senior Windows Correspondent, Drew gives is the low down based on a recent video released by Microsoft.
Windows 8 Lock Screen
The Windows 8 lock screen isn’t going to be seen by many more users than the Windows 7 lock screen is. Essentially, the lock screen appears when the computer wakes from sleep, when it wakes from the lid being closed, or when the users manually locks the computer if the user is going away for a while and doesn’t want passerby to see or mess with the computer in that time. But until Windows 8, the lock screen was simply a password-protected barrier leading back to the desktop.
In Windows 8, the lock screen is inheriting the feature set of the lock screen from Windows Phone. It will show a user-customized image, the date and time, and beneath the large print of the date and time, it will show small icons with numbers next to them representing to the user what was missed while he or she was getting a coffee refill. It will show a small mail icon and a number next to it showing how many emails have come in since the lock screen was engaged. This same formula applies to things like instant messages, missed voice or video calls, and generally, other forms of social media you may care to know that you have missed. It’s nice to see some added functionality, and to have those icons as guides for what you need to do once you sit back down.
Live Tiles
Windows Phone also lends the developers the luxury of live tiles which Microsoft has re-appropriated onto what they are calling the Start screen. Live tiles are like widgets that also serve the function of icons. For example, the live tile that represents the calendar applications shows the date and the next appointment (be it that same day or the next day). It is meant to provide an at a glance view of the calendar, perhaps saving you the trouble of having to actually open the calendar application. However, you can open the full application by clicking the live tile.
The presenter of the video didn’t go into great depth on the tiles as tiles, instead he used them to jump into the applications. I was able to extrapolate some information from the live tiles by pausing the high definition video and looking them over. Having experience with Windows Phone, I have a general idea of how Microsoft expects these to work.
The above-mentioned calendar live tile appears just as it does on Windows Phone and as I explained above. New tiles included an email tile that included a three-line preview of your most recent message; it’s worth as a tile is questionable. A third-party Twitter application was running with a live tile and the tile showed the avatar of the user as well as the user’s most recent status update. Again, it would be better to show a number next to the tile to see how many new tweets have appeared since the last view, but that is up to the third-party developer, not Microsoft. There was a tile that showed live stock feeds; if you are in the market for that sort of information, I imagine it would be useful to see your stocks at a glance. A useful-looking weather live tile was present which I always find handy in that at a glance situation. Finally, there was an RSS reader that had a live tile showing the most recent article title and the accompanying image.
It’s important to note that all of these tiles lead into full-fledged applications. The weather tile leads into an application that shows a 7-day forecast. The RSS reader leads into an application with all of your feeds in one place that looks very well thought out. The live tile is just an icon for these application, only a more useful icon.
Navigating new terrain
This panoramic view of tiles that lead into full-screen applications is a drastic departure from an operating system that has depended on a bottom-located toolbar and start button since 1995. But this shouldn’t be considered a complete departure from the old way; in typical Microsoft fashion, this is going to be a long and gentle (in my opinion, it’s probably going to be too long) transition. One of the live tiles you see on the Start screen is Desktop. This icon will take you back to the traditional Windows 7 desktop. There is also a tile for Windows Explorer, the file manager. So these things haven’t been pushed out of the new interface. Older applications, not designed for the big, touch-oriented Start screen still run and look the same as they have in previous versions of Windows.
But what is important is learning to navigate the Start screen environment. It has a new set of rules that could involve a bit of a learning curve for those that aren’t adept at switching desktops often. Microsoft has put all of the functions of the Start screen into the left and right sides of the screen.
Reach off to the right side of the screen and you can pull out a small bar with the options Search, Start, Settings, Connect. From the video, these functions aren’t clearly designed. Only Start is shown; it will take you out of your existing application and back to the Start home screen full of live tiles. The others we can only speculate about now.
Reach off to the left side of the screen and you pull out the applications that are open. This is the form of multitasking in Windows 8. From the video, it is very unclear how this works. It seems as if you are grabbing randomly from the applications you have open; if there is any rhyme or reason to it, it is not apparent in the video.
A final feature worth mentioning is the docking of applications. If you have Internet Explorer and a video playing at the same time, for example, you can grab Internet Explorer and dock it to the left 65% of your screen and let your video remain in the other 35%. This would be great for larger screens where you want to keep a handful of applications in your view all at once.
Perspective
All I can say right now is that I’ve watched the video a few times, paused it several more times, and used my combined might and knowledge of Microsoft to extrapolate as much as I can without speculating too much. It’s interesting to know that this all started with the Zune HD which was the inspiration for the Windows Phone interface which is now the inspiration for the Windows 8 interface. But Windows 8 is still over a year from release, and I’m sure we’ll see more before then. Microsoft has confirmed that there will be a public beta, so eventually everyone will have a chance to use it or throw it into a virtual machine. As some say, KDE does Microsoft better than Microsoft, so at least they have some new material to work with now than they’ve had since Windows 7 has slowed down.
And now to our Senior Windows Correspndent… Drew O’Brien
Today we start a new segment on the blog where we are filled in on what is happening on the otherside of the computing pond… in Windows Land, by a new Windows Phone owner and our senior Windows Correspndent Drew O’Brien.
The Windows Phone Ecosystem
Microsoft has been busy coming up with catchy taglines lately for their products so much so that it almost makes it seem like they are distinct products. But they aren’t. They are part of an ecosystem that functions only when each part plays its role. Some parts may be removed, but then some features and functions are removed. How about a few examples?
Windows 7 and Windows Live: “To the cloud!”
Windows Phone: “Finally, a phone to save us from our phones.”
Xbox 360: “Jump in.”
Zune: “your entertainment, everywhere.”
So what is all this madness? Perhaps we should look at each component individually, in short, and then figure out how they jigsaw together because all five of the services listed above to merge into one device, Windows Phone.
Windows 7 is Microsoft’s flagship operating system. It replaced Windows Vista and will be replaced by Windows 8 in 2012 in typical operating system fashion. The operating system controls what software you can run and how it is run; think of it as the foundation of a house, your applications the structure of the house, and your data the furnishings of your house.
Windows Live is Microsoft’s cloud-based service environment. This allows you to store your data or copies of your data in the cloud which is a technical term for an off-site server maintained by a company, in this case by Microsoft. Windows Live allows you to save a copy of your contacts, calendar, photos, videos, and office documents on their servers. The benefit to you is that you can access them from your friend’s house via their web browser or you can retain a copy of those important files if your computer breaks.
Xbox 360 needs only a short introduction because it lives in a smaller world than the rest of Microsoft’s products. It’s a gaming console that competes with Nintendo’s Wii system and Sony’s PlayStation 3 as well as traditional comuputer games. Gamers are given a Gamerscore that indicates how much they have achieved in their gaming activities and an avatar to represent their virtual gaming self.
Zune is Microsoft’s multimedia platform. It handles their marketplace for music and movie downloads and rentals. It competes with many other companies’ similar products, most notably Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 Store and Video on Demand store. With Windows 9, it is set to become the official bundled application for media, replacing Windows Media Player (which has been the staple player for two decades).
Convergence on Windows Phone
Now that these products have been explained individually, let’s take a look at how they all come together on Windows Phone. Windows Phone is what is termed at “convergence device.” This means that it brings the functionality of multiple devices into a single device like a combination video camera and still camera.
In order to use Windows Phone, there are three key components from above that you must have. I should point out that these are not strictly required to use the phone as a phone, but if you want to use all of the features of the phone you need these components.
The first component is Windows Live, and this one is absolute. When you first turn on the phone, the walkthrough requires that you sign into or create a Windows Live account. There is no turning away from having a Windows Live account. What is the benefit of this? Let’s use me as an example. My email is Hotmail (the Windows Live email component); my calendar is Hotmail Calendar (the Windows Live calendar component); my contacts are stored in my email (again, part of Windows Live); my photo collection is stored on SkyDrive (Windows Live provides 25GB of free storage space for files). So when I signed into my Windows Live account on my new Windows Phone, it copied all of that information from the cloud and automatically populated my contacts, calendar, email, and photo collection. This took a matter of about 20 seconds. When I change something on the phone, it makes that change on the computer and vice versa, keeping everything in sync. This also keeps my data in three places (my computer, my phone, and the cloud); so if my phone were to be dropped and broken beyond repair, I would still have all of my data backed up in two other places.
The second component in Windows 7. To use the phone strictly as a phone, this is not necessary. But if I want to sync my media (music, videos, and photos) to and from my phone, I need to use the Zune software (the third required component). The Zune software only works on Windows 7. So in order to sync media to the phone, you need to invest in a computer with Windows 7, download and install the Zune software, create a Windows Live ID to sign into the Zune software client, and plug in your Windows Phone into the computer. This is referred to as an ecosystem; each part is dependent upon another part. If you are a Macintosh user, you cannot sync your media nor can you if you use a Linux-based or BSD-based operating system because the Zune software is only available for Windows.
To round out the discussion of the ecosystem, I wanted to discuss the Xbox 360 integration. This is purely optional and if you don’t play games, it won’t have any bearing on your Windows Phone experience. But if you have an Xbox LIVE account, you can view your Gamerscore, avatar, messages from other gamers, and view Achievements (the events you perform in the games to earn points that build your Gamerscore). The Xbox LIVE application on the phone requires that you have setup your Windows Live ID to connect to the Xbox LIVE service (a matter of a few clicks which doesn’t require you to even buy the Xbox 360 hardware) and it serves as a place where all of the games you download to your phone are centrally stored (so they don’t get sorted into the list of your other apps).
Perspective
Microsoft is not breaking new ground with Windows Phone. They’ve come to the smartphone business late in the game. I am saying that with some bias because I consider this current generation of smartphones to be the real thing. The older Palm Treos, Blackberry devices, and Windows Mobile devices were nothing like iPhones, Android devices, modern Blackberry devices, or Palms primarily because of things like mobile web and the creation of third-party app development.
In terms of creating an ecosystem or cloud-based system, they are also late to the game. Android devices merge Gmail, Gmail contacts, Google Calendar, Google Reader, and many more Google services into the phone. As a previous Motorola Droid owner, I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan of the Google ecosystem because I didn’t find it as robust as what Microsoft has created. Microsoft has desktop applications and websites that tie into their cloud while Google exists only in the web browser (save for using IMAP email in a third-party desktop email client). But that is simply a matter of personal preference, not functionality.
I’ve now got a HTC Arrive on Sprint. It’s running Windows Phone version 7 (and Microsoft has said that version 7.5 “Mango” will be backported to first generation devices like mine) with the “NoDo” update which added a few minor features. Microsoft has mandatory hardware requirements for Windows Phone (to make app development easier and prevent fragmentation like Android is now experiencing) that are as follows: 1GHz “Snapdragon” CPU, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 8GB or 16GB user-accessible storage, 5 megapixel camera (must be acccesible in one click via a hardware button), 800×480 screen resolution, and three buttons below the screen in portrait stance (Back, Home, Search).
I hope this introduction has proved useful. I know for many readers this will sound like very basic information, but for some it may provide some perspective on how Microsoft is leveraging their products together to create an ecosystem that sells not only a phone, but an operating system and additional software as well.
Questions on anything from hardware to software to applications are welcome. I will try any application and provide a review for you if you wish, but if it is an application that costs money, I do expect to be paid via PayPal for the amount required to download the application. Hopefully, I can prove to you that Microsoft is in this to win it.
Something interesting happened in Qigong today
I’ve been doing Kung-Fu now for about 8 months, and its getting really cool. Recently I started doing Qigong (Tai Chi) so that I could train internally as well as externally. Now mind you I am just starting to scratch the surface of all of this, but something really cool happened today. I’m going to try and describe this but I will have to do a bit of explanation, please bear with me.
I was doing Jamjong (I think that’s round about how it is said/spelled, my Cantonese/Fookaneese is not great) which is a technique for centering. I was in the “human” position, which is where your feet are shoulder width apart and your hands are at the lower reference point (near the naval), and facing each other. My right hand formed a nickel sized cold spot, like liquid nitrogen cold, and the same place on my left hand was hot in the same place. like if you left a coin in the summer sun and then pressed it into your hand. That’s weird enough but I also felt like something was passing back and fourth between the two points.
Now mind you I am pretty skeptical about mystical/paranormal things. I’m not willing to discredit things with out serious proof, but I’m not a true believer either. However this was just fracking cool. Was it Qi moving around my body? I dunno, and really don’t care. All I am sure of is it was super cool feeling and if it happens again I am just going to enjoy it for what it is… odd.
Terrorist attacks against US targets in my life time and my (approximate) physical proximity to them
I really hate when people say things like
Sorry that the way it is in this country with all the threats of terrorism by radical groups. There are terrorist out there and we have to be vigilant…WATCHFUL!!
Lookit, you don’t have to be watchful. What in the fuck do you plan to do if you see a terrorist about to commit terrorism. Most people can’t even give CPR when it’s needed what makes you think you can stop a terror plot?
The thing that really pisses me off is when I try to show them that they are being irrational, not because I think I am smarter than them but I would like to put them at ease. Maybe they could worry about things that need to be worried about instead of the boogeyman.
I try to tell them that they have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being involved in a terrorist attack, and then this nugget comes out
That’s true, but being hit by lightning or being involved in an attack depends on where thunderstorms are and where terrorist are located that would carry out an attack.
DUDE YOU LIVE INDIANA THERE ISN’T SHIT HERE TO TERRORISE!!! All you have to do is look around you and think “Is there anything that would be a valuable target around here?” If no Congrats! no threat. If yes and you are worried… THEN MOVE WHO THE HELL WANTS TO LIVE AT THE BULLSEYE OF A DAMN TARGET!!!
This prompted me to see what terrorist attacks have happened to US targets since my birth. Then I wondered how close were any of these to me (roughly). SO here they are every terrorist attack since February 1985! Guess what nothing even close!!! I’m closer to Atlanta than New York or Oklahoma and its not even within 300 miles of me. So people in the American Mid-West STFU about terrorism, Its not going to happen. Just like we don’t get Hurricanes we aren’t getting attacked by terrorists.
So here are my findings:
April 12, 1985 – A bomb explodes in a restaurant near a U.S. air base in Madrid, Spain, killing 18, all Spaniards, and wounding 82, including 15 Americans.
Indianapolis to Madrid: 4182 miles
June 14, 1985 – TWA flight 847 is hijacked over the Mediterranean, the start of a two-week hostage ordeal. The hijackers, linked to Hezbollah, demand the release of prisoners being held in Kuwait as well as the release of 700 Shiite Muslim prisoners being held in Israeli and Lebanese prisons. U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem is killed and 39 passengers are held hostage when the demands were not met. The passengers are eventually released in Damascus after being held in various locations in Beirut.
Indianapolis to Demascus: 6195 miles
June 19, 1985 РIn San Salvador, El Salvador, 13 people are killed in a machine gun attack at an outdoor caf̩, including four U.S. Marines and two American businessmen.
Indianapolis to San Salvador: 1808 miles
August 8, 1985 – A car bomb at a U.S. military base in Frankfurt, Germany kills two and injures 20. A U.S. soldier murdered for his identity papers is found a day after the explosion.
Indianapolis to Frankfurt: 4383 miles
October 7, 1985 – Palestinian terrorists hijack the cruise liner Achille Lauro (in response to the Israeli attack on PLO headquarters in Tunisia) Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly, wheelchair-bound American, is killed and thrown overboard.
Indianapolis to Alexandria, Egypt*: 6061 miles
November 24, 1985 – Hijackers aboard an Egyptair flight kill one American. Egyptian commandos later storm the aircraft on the isle of Malta, and 60 people are killed.
Indianapolis to Valletta, Malta: 5190 miles
December 18, 1985 – Simultaneous suicide attacks are carried out against U.S. and Israeli check-in desks at Rome and Vienna international airports. 20 people are killed in the two attacks, including four terrorists.
Indianapolis to Rome: 4858 miles
Indianapolis to Vienna: 4747 miles
April 5, 1986 – A bomb destroys the LaBelle discotheque in West Berlin. The disco was known to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. The attack kills one American and one German woman and wounds 150, including 44 Americans**
Indianapolis to Berlin: 4467 miles
April 1986 – An explosion damages a TWA flight as it prepares to land in Athens, Greece. Four people are killed when they are sucked out of the aircraft.
Indianapolis to Athens: 5481 miles
Dec. 21, 1988 – A bomb destroys Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 are killed including 189 Americans, as are 11 people on the ground.***
Indianapolis to Aberdeen: 3775 miles
February 1993 – A bomb in a van explodes in the underground parking garage in New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and wounding 1,042.
Indianapolis to New York City: 649 miles
April 19, 1995 – A car bomb destroys the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding over 600.
Indianapolis to Oklahoma City: 691 miles
Nov. 13, 1995 – A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills seven people, five of them American military and civilian advisers for National Guard training. The “Tigers of the Gulf,” “Islamist Movement for Change,” and “Fighting Advocates of God” claim responsibility.
Indianapolis to Riyadh: 7062 miles
June 25, 1996 – A bomb aboard a fuel truck explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel are killed in the Khubar Towers housing facility, and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans.
Indianapolis to Riyadh: 7062 miles
July 27, 1996 – A pipe bomb explodes during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and wounding 111.
Indianapolis to Atlanta: 426 miles
June 21, 1998 – Rocket-propelled grenades explode near the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Indianapolis to Beirut: 6146 miles
Aug. 7, 1998 – Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the 291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including 6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured.****
Indianapolis to Nairobi: 7994 miles
Indianapolis to Dar es Salaam: 8382 miles
Oct. 12, 2000 – A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39
Indianapolis to Aden: 7648 miles
September 11, 2001 – Terrorists hijack four U.S. commercial airliners taking off from various locations in the United States in a coordinated suicide attack. In separate attacks, two of the airliners crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, which catch fire and eventually collapse. A third airliner crashes into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, causing extensive damage. The fourth airliner, also believed to be heading towards Washington, DC, crashes outside Shanksville, PA., killing all 45 people on board. Casualty estimates from New York put the possible death toll close to 5,000, while as many as 200 people may have been lost at the Pentagon crash site.
Indianapolis to New York City: 649 miles
Indianapolis to Shanksville: 420 miles
Indianapolis to Alington: 571 miles
—-
Sources:
Data:
CDI Terrorism Project
CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR TERRORIST ATTACKS AGAINST U.S. TARGETS
http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/chronology-pr.cfm
Distance:
timeanddate.com
Calculate distance between two locations
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distance.html
Notes:
* The Achille Lauro was off the coast of Egypt when it was borded. http://www.specialoperations.com/Images_Folder/library2/achille.html
** In response, on April 15 the United States retaliated in an operation dubbed “El Dorado Canyon.” Approximately 100 aircraft were launched in direct support of the raid. It was an attack against military targets involving land-based bombers from Great Britain together with carrier-based air strikes from ships in the Gulf of Sidra.
On Nov. 13, 2001 a German court convicted four people for the bombing. Verena Chanaa, a German national, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison for selecting the site of the attack and placing the bomb. Yassir Chraidi, a Palestinian working at the Libyan Embassy and suspected of being the main organizer of the attack, was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 14 years. Two other embassy employees, Musbah Abdulghasem Eter, a Libyan, and Ali Chanaa, a Lebanese-born German and Verena Chanaa’s former husband, were both convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 12 years. Libya has refused to extradite five other suspects sought by German police, including members of the Libyan secret service.
*** As a result, two Libyan intelligence officers are charged with planting the bomb. They are eventually turned over by the Libyan government and tried. The trial, conducted in the Netherlands under Scottish law, begins in May 2000 and ends in February 2001. Abdelbaset Al Mohmed al-Megrahi is convicted and receives a life sentence. The other defendant, Al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah is acquitted.
**** In response, on August 20 the United States attacked targets in Afghanistan and Sudan with over 75 cruise missiles fired from Navy ships in the Arabian and Red seas. About 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from warships in the Arabian Sea. Most struck six separate targets in a camp near Khost, Afghanistan. Simultaneously, about 20 cruise missiles were fired from U.S. ships in the Red Sea striking a factory in Khartoum, Sudan, which was suspected of producing components for making chemical weapons.
***** Some cities weren’t available for calculation from dateandtime.com if they weren’t I chose another city in that country to base the distance on (they are so far away that the margin of error is almost irrelevant), and if it was inside the US I just used Google Maps.
I competed in the 2011 Indiana Martial Arts Challenge
I competed in the 2011 Indiana Martial Arts Challenge
That’s right I did something that required me to get off my butt and do something (I know I’m just as concerned as you are). I also realize that I haven’t discussed Martial Arts on this blog before. Maybe I should fill you all in.
I have been studying what I will be generically referring to as Kung-Fu. Fo those of you that care I am officially learning Hung Fa Yi Wing Chun and my school is transitioning to Black Flag Wing Chun (Ka kem bun I think…. I’m not sure how its spelled to be honest). I have been at Meng’s Martial Arts of Richmond for 6 months now and last weekend had my first tournament. We really aren’t a big tournament school, but when one rolls around we like to go and have a bit of fun.
Like with most things I get involved with I have gotten involved beyond the classes and have put my nerd-fu to use working with some other students getting a notification system going and helping Sifu (my teacher [it’s Cantoneese for Kung-fu teacher or father]) with some marketing things [all ideas I have gratiously stolen from marketing GNU/Linux :)] But this is for another discussion.
So for the last 6 months I have trained my mind and body in the same way that the Shaolin Monks have for hundreds of years (well ok I’m not that hardcore). And so I took part in this tournament to get a near-real-life test of what I have learned. I have learned that I am a pretty terrible ground fighter (this will change with hard work over time), and I am better than I thought I was at kicking and striking. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am good; just that I am better than I thought I was.
So back to this event. I recieved 2 silver and one bronze medle.
One Silver was in grappling where I was choked to submission in less than 30 seconds. Got silver because there were only two of us in our weight class.
the other silver came in point sparring. Where I had 2 matches. The fist one as against another Kung-Fu student (from a differnt school) and a former co-worker. He did a great job but I came out victorious. The next match was against a gentleman who did Karate. He had me confused the whole match because we was doing this dance and I couldnt tell wheter he was going to attack or not. All part of the game, and he played it well.
My Bronze came in Continuous Contact or Continuous Point Sparring. I was more happy with the outcome of this event compaired to my grappling but was more furstrated with the outcome. All of the events at this competition had a rule against “blind techniques” which ment that you couldnt hit anyone in the back of the head or use a move that you couldnt see where you were throwing it. It was a safty issue. The Gentleman that I went agaisnt in the CC match continuously punched me in the back of the head, for which he recieved many warnings, but they allowed him to continue. At one point he did throw a legal punch and got me right in the top eye lid; which caused my vision to go “wonky” and I had them call the match, giving him a Knock Out and giving me a wicked headache for a couple of days.
Overall I faired way better than I thought and had a lot of fun. I think I will do more blogging about my adventures in Kung-Fu if you would like to hear about it. And I hope you all enjoy the videos (when I get them up).
If you want to know more about anything in this post just comment I will elaborate as far as I can 🙂
FUDcon Day 1
#fudpub was great. I had a bit too much fun… open bar (thanks rackspace!!!). Hydrated like a boss b4 bed so I’m good 🙂 #fudcon !FUDcon
it really was awesome, had a great time… but that happens at fudpub stays at fudpub 🙂
sitting in the Ambassador talk #fudcon !FUDcon
this talk had some great info about the growth of the project and ambassadors, we also talked about money… i hate talking about money.
♺ @ElNushio: Fedora Ambassadors, the #FUDCon Ambassador talk is being liveirc’d. http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=fudcon-room-2
Nushio is awesome that is all
If there are bike lanes in your town why in the hell would you ride on the sidewalk? #tempe
This is really still pissing me off. Richmond doesnt have bike lines and I still ride on the street like I’m supposed to… why wont these wankers do it
♺ @ElNushio: ♺ @paulocereda: #FUDCon epic reporter @ElNushio! yfrog.com/hs2ll5j <- this is funny, Nushio has done a great job!! !FUDcon
♺ @WayneEMA: NWS has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Wayne CO. until 01:15 AM <- so glad I'm not there 🙂
now that i rethink this going into an icy hell is going to be worse after being pampered in the desert 😦
I wish I knew how to code the new fedora packaging plugins for eclipse look really cool #fudcon !fudcon
they are really supper cool
♺ @stickster: What’s awesome about #FUDCon, #913: Watching an attorney coworker getting interested in and learning about git. …
I saw this happen Paul was beaming. I also enjoy seeing this type of thing happen
ok the shite wireless at ASU has reaffirmed my need to get a server back up and running. it has been a pita
OMGF THIS WIFI SUX!!!!!!!!!111111111111one
At Gordon Biersch with a heap of people. #fudcon !FUDcon
the beer was pretty good (except the one with the banana finish) the food was mediocre and the bill was outrageous.
Free Your Software/Culture and the Rest Will Follow 