Well, it looks like it’s time to update my “about me” section (which I’m sure I’ll get around to sometime next century) as I just got a promotion.
That’s right friends, I’ve moved up in the world, and am now officially “Communications and Publicity Officer” for the Health and Community Services Union.
I’ve been wrangling for the job for a while and my wonderful employer has finally given in.
So big weekend on the Linux front for me.
I was running Ubuntu 8.04 but it was starting to get a bit clunky. I hadn’t reinstalled since 7.04 and with two major upgrades I got the impression that a few settings were starting to clash.
So I thought with the recent release of KDE4 it would be a good opportunity for me to try out Kubuntu. So I backed up my computer (which took most of the day) and installed Kubuntu on my Toshiba Tecra A8.
The installation was a breeze and with only a little bit of playing around my wireless was working fine. However, I just couldn’t get into it. For a start, there was a lack of standard packages. Firefox wasn’t the standard browser, there was no standard bittorrent program and so on. As someone who isn’t all that experienced with Linux and has little technical knowledge of it this was all a bit much for me.
Then there was the high level of customisation required of KDE. Many point to this as a strength, and I’m sure if you’re familiar with KDE it’s fantastic. But I didn’t know where to start.
After a few hours of trying to get it to work the way I wanted it to, I gave up and went back to Gnome. My computer is now working really well. I really like the new BitTorrent program that comes as standard except I’m perturbed by the lack of addons for it – there are none that I know of (please correct me if I’m wrong). Previously I have been using KTorrent which is excellent because it has an automatic port forwarder, RSS feeds, and a bandwidth scheduler so you can download in your off peak period and save all your peak bandwidth.
Finally, a call for advice. How do I restore all my old emails? I backed up the file .mozilla-thunderbird (or something like that). Everything I read said to just back that file up then copy it back into the /home directory to restore your emails. I tried this and nothing happened. Any advice for a bit of a noob?
This also means that I have to declare email bankruptcy, if you need something from me and have already emailed me, please email me again. I’ve lost all emails and all email addresses.
Well my donations plug-in is complete.
I’ll release it properly on the WordPress site when I get a chance – but I thought you lot would like the scoop first.
In the mean time you can download it from here.
It’s a plug-in that let’s people know who you’re donating to at the moment. I try to donate about $50 a month to different organisations. I think the world would be a better place if more people did the same thing. So, with my plug in you can see who I’m donating to and why.
Installation instructions:
If you have any problems or suggestions please let me know by emailing hammy [at] goonanism [dot] com.
Please note: This should be considered a beta release (probably even an alpha release). I’ve only tested it with WordPress 2.2.
I’ve decided of late that I don’t give enough money. So, to remedy this I’ve decided to donate $50 a month to different organisations whose work I admire and wish to support.
Then I thought that I’d like to encourage others to do the same. I’m also teaching myself php.
These things combined have lead me to my first wordpress plugin. You can see it in my side bar, the “organisations I donate to” bit is a plug in.
It’s still probably not even an alpha release and I’ve got to figure out how to do the back end for it but as soon as I do, I’ll make it available for all of you to use. Hopefully this will encourage you to give a little more and promote the great work of the groups you are giving to.
Also, please be patient with me, this site has had a range of weird errors lately as I experiment.
Sorry kiddos (both of you), not much love at the moment.
I’m currently moving house – which really has no impact on my blogging at all but I am using as an excuse for my lack of blogging.
I’m sure something insightful will be brought to your attention soon.
In the mean time, I’m currently reading the Pirate’s Dilema. It’s excellent so go an read it instead. Or just go outside and get some fresh air.
…and from the Pirate’s Dilema blog I give you McLovin’ on Piracy:
For those of you interested in my Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice activities, it’s all up and going again in a big way.
Check out our latest newsletter with all the details here: http://democracyandjustice.org/content/view/98/53/
As someone who is just about to start looking for a rental property again thisscares the hell out of me:
MELBOURNE’S rental property drought has hit crisis levels after last month’s vacancy rate fell below 1% for the first time on record. Rental accommodation in the central city has almost dwindled to zero.For those wishing to live close to the city the situation is even more dire. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says that, within four kilometres of the CBD, the vacancy rate dived to 0.5% last month. It was 0.6% in February last year.
And I blame baby boomers and their instance on property investment. I also blame the government for allowing baby boomers to negatively gearing which means that Baby Boomers can get a tax break for ripping me off. For fuck’s sake, it benefits investors not first home buyers. Not that would want to buy a house even if it was within my means.
Such is my dismay that I even find myself agreeing with the Institute of Public Affairs:
Alan Moran, director of the Institute of Public Affairs’ deregulation unit, said housing supply was being constrained by some action groups.“It comes back to save-our-suburb type groups that are opposing new developments and either imposing costs on them or stopping them, so we have a shortage emerging.”
And when I agree with that bunch of looney right-wingers, the IPA, you know something must be wrong.
Moreover, property investment means less investment in Australian companies. So people, please don’t buy and investment property, buy shares in Australian companies that specialise in renewable energy and technology – preferably open source.
Well it would appear that for the first time in a long time I’ve been Memed by the ever so lovely Kakariki over at Radical Cross Stitch (which I’m happy to call party of the Goonanism family).
So I have to “tell 6 things of your life which look like manias or tics, and then pass it to 6 other persons.” So let’s see, I’ll do 3 tics and 3 manias:
Manias:
Tics:
Hello my beautiful readers (both of you).
I’m off to Egypt on Monday and Meredith tomorrow so I dare say that this will be my last post for about a month. However I might post some stuff from Egypt if I have the time and the inclination.
In the mean time, if you happen to be thinking of me, why not suggest a domain name I should register in the comments. I’m thinking about switching web hosts and I’ll get a free domain name with my new host.
Yes I’ve been a little slack but I make no excuses. Sometimes you’re feeling the blog, sometimes you aren’t. And there’s no point putting boring stuff up to fill the gaps.
But a few quick comments.
Rudd is going to win the election. I don’t like him but I hate Howard (just in case you hadn’t figured that out).
I recently built a web site for HACSU for our Mental Health Enterprise Bargaining Agreement negotiations. Check out www.bettermentalhealth.org.au and please send an email through the site and sign the petition.
Tonight I’ll be in the audience for Difference of Opinion. Please watch it. I’m far from an expert on privitisation but you never know what comments I might make.
On Monday Dec 3 I’ll be part of a discussion panel for the Understandascope at BMW Edge, Federation Square from 6pm. Please come along.
ACDJ‘s last forum for the year is Tuesday next week and promises to be a good one. Please come along, details are on the web site.
While I’m on ACDJ news, we’re selling People and Planet Diaries. I’d love you to buy one so leave a comment or email me at hammy [at] goonanism [dot] com.
Finally, I damn near shit my pants this morning when I hear on RRR that Ween are playing at Golden Plains. This fact escaped me. I am excited!
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