Quickie from the workplace

Do you have a youtube account?  Do you use the "recommend to friend" tool?

Read this.

=/

Oh, and windowzers, patch your OS.

On DIY toys and computers

Lately I've been neglecting my nerdy side.  But after taking a look at those DIY mp3 players I know I want to build one. =] 
You probably think "why someone who already owns a 'spiffy' digital music player (the iPod nano that I rarely use) would want to waste time building one herself?" and the answer is very simple:  Because what you build yourself is a lot more valuable and precious than anything you can buy. =]
"Don't you have better things to do? Like trying to become literate, for example? "
Uh... nah.  This is more fun. 
I often joke and/or make fun of my "redneck" origins, but the truth is I think it's been those afternoons that I've spent watching how dad and uncles and cousins worked to fix cars, what's made me love to fix stuff myself and what's made me think that no matter what it is, if another human being did it, then I can also do it.

Oh, well, but I am still delaying the upgrade of KDE on my BELOVED Debian box, 'because... I always ruin something when I upgrade KDE.  >_<

I am considering building myself (in addition to the mp3 player) a second box which will run under either LFS or Gentoo.  Just for the sake of it.  Because I've always wanted to do Linux from scratch, or even build my own distro (which will probably be Debian-based as far as package management is concerned)  (And it still needs a name, so I'm taking suggestions!)
I have some spare parts, but I'd still need a processor, a motherboard and a case.  I have some small~ish HD's (10 Gig), an old crt screen, some ram, some fans, lots of wires... and I've always wanted to do this step by step blog-post "how to build your own computer" with pictures and all.
I think it'd encourage everyone to tweak around with your comps, because when you see it you will all think: "Well, if Michelle, who is stupid, ugly, lame and ignorant; can do it, then of course I can do it too!"
It always makes my eye twitch when I read anyone saying "Oh, vey, I must call the computer repair people to get my RAM upgraded... so expensive!"

I also want to mod my case...
But alas, all these things require money, which is something I do not have right now.

Do it yourself

Today I found this wonderful site:  "Make", which is dedicated to DIY people. =D  I am one of those, hehe.  I find it very entertaining to do stuff myself, as it helps me "unplug" from daily horrors.  I particularly like their blog.  It has an RSS feed that you can add to your feed-reading, if you are so inclined (I did! haha!)
The article that piqued my curiosity for the site was the one about BookMooch.  BookMooch is a free book trading and exchange community.  Basically, you sign up, enter the books you have to offer, someone requests them, you send them and get points; then you can request books.  ^_^  I think maybe this is a great idea for those of you about to go back to classes... perhaps.
I haven't signed up and tried the site myself, since I doubt anyone wants to receive or send books from abroad (from this abroad, cuter abroads are OK); but you might want to try it. ^_^

When I was a kid my parents bought me an awesome book at a book-fair.  This book was about "inventing" things, or rather, DIY toys.  It was great,  although I could never make the most fascinating ones because the parts required to make them were very expensive.
This magazine reminds me a little of that "How to make your own electronic toys" book, only this one is for grownup kids.  ^_~

US people, defend your privacy! Stop surveillance!

Last Year in my country a law like this tried to be passed.  Through everybody's effort, the citizens of this 3rd World hole managed to escape the nightmare that it would entail.  (Note:  Apparently, wikipedia thinks this is not the third world, but we all know wikipedia can't be trusted.)

Now, the US is trying to bring this nightmare onto their people.  If you live in the US and you value your privacy, take action now.  It might be too late tomorrow.

Spread the word.  Tell everyone you know.  And if you wish to place a button like the one ut supra, you can do so by pasting the following html code on your journal:

<a href="http://action.eff.org/fisa">
<img src="http://www.eff.org/images/homepage/stopbills.png"
alt="Stop the Surveillance Bills!" width="148" height="70" border="0" /></a>

The bill:

• Stacks the deck against anyone challenging illegal surveillance programs in court, sweeping legal challenges into the shadowy Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts.
• Guts long-standing statutory limits on secret surveillance by the government, threatening to make search warrants for national security wiretaps optional rather than mandatory.
• Permits even more dragnet surveillance, creating a secret approval process for electronic fishing expeditions that could sweep up the communications of millions of Americans.

Here's what the press is saying:

• Washington Post: "Mr. Specter's bill ... has been turned into a green light for domestic spying. It must not pass....This bill is not a compromise but a full-fledged capitulation on the part of the legislative branch to executive claims of power."
• Los Angeles Times: "[Specter's] compromise solution is too much of a compromise and not enough of a solution."
• New York Times: "The bill the president has agreed to accept would allow him to go on ignoring the eavesdropping law.... [The FISA court] is not the right court to make the determination [about the domestic spying program's constitutionality]."

Good luck.  Fight for your rights.