Open … Everything!

Today was a great skatejam at Clemente High School thrown by the fine dudes at the Uprise skateshop. I recommend everyone who likes shoes/skateboarding/clothes to shop there because they rip and genuinely deserve the best. What I found most fun about this event was the 60+ kids running around, of all skill levels, simply having fun. There was a best trick contest (shout out to Nic Nootens for winning best trick) and all kinds of obstacles. When Uprise comes to an event, they do it for the people, they do it because they love what they do, not to get rich or famous. I found this short documentary about the shop which I also love.

I come home and read Manchicken’s latest blog post about Open Source cooking which is always enjoyable.

So now it’s my turn to give back to the world with… Open Source Coffee. Yes I will teach you the secrets of making coffee, the Eddie Martinez way. You will need:

Folger’s Instant Coffee
A sizable amount of milk (here I am vague because I don’t have a measuring cup. More on this later.)
White Sugar
A large cup
A pot to boil with
Heat! (this one is crucial)

Step 1: Pour milk into pot. I just use a tall cup that’s in my cupboard, so I have no idea as to how much milk I’m consumming.
Step 2: Put pot on heat.
Step 3: Wait.
Step 4: Put 1/2 a teaspoon-1 teaspoon of coffee down into the cup.
Step 5: ~2 teaspoons of sugar.
Step 6: Hot milk into the cup
Step 7: Stir

Hot milk is very important for 2 reasons: Tepid milk sucks. Hot water sucks.

Good coffee is smooth and rich. NOT bitter. If your coffee is bitter, it’s probably because you’re using some old/stable or just generally shitty beans. However, I don’t usually use beans, I have instant coffee in my cupboard. So if I tried to use this instant coffee, I would have dusty and old, what coffee beans eat for dinner, stuff in my coffee. And the water wouldn’t do anything but water the taste down. Hence the name. This is why I use warm milk. White sugar holds flavor in coffee better than brown sugar, which is why I use white sugar and not brown sugar. Brown sugar is for making cakes. And with that said:

Enjoy!

-Eddie

passwords

I’ve been thinking alot about passwords, password strength, hackablity etc. lately. I have logins for a seizable number of sites which I use on a constant basis, swapping between a limited number of passwords. My question is this: What is a good rule of thumb for picking passwords/remembering passwords etc.? I realize that my own system is a bad one, and has the potential for a big disaster. Yahoo Mail (which I, thankfully, haven’t used in years) used to recommend mother’s maiden name or favorite stuff animal as a password. I’m trying to move beyond that and go into something more secure.Yes I realize that mixing numbers and letters is a good idea.

Help?

-Eddie

/me laughs out loud

This article has to be one of the worst piece of garbage I have ever read. This is neither a good piece of journalism, a strong and logical personal opinion, or a LEGAL basis for doing using proprietary software

This is the fact that to play a DVD or use WMA/WMV files I have to install codecs that are technically illegal to use.

Why is it illegal to use, Mr. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME? Why does your article bitch and moan about this point without asking any hard hitting questions? Does it have something to do with restrictive licensing, the fight for open formats and free software? Giant media corporations who consolidated their power while manipulating politicians/the law to protect their backward ass way of ‘entertaining’ the masses? Region encoding?

Mark Shuttleworth said something along the lines of “I would love to work with Microsoft but I can’t because of their current stance on DRM.” Okay, so this quote is close to anything he said, but you get the general idea.

Free software is great in isolation, but as soon as you have a situation where you’re trying to integrate it with modern proprietary file formats, the idea falls apart at the seams.

Well this is true, but you forgot to ask why again! Proprietary file formats are defective by design. How can you expect free software and non free software to have a tea party and pass cookies while Microsoft spreads FUD about GLPv3 and Gobuntu is getting rolled out? Software doesn’t work in that real. There will never be a lolcats picture that says ‘Im in ur Linux, playing ur .mp3s. I don’t think I know anyone that WANTS to support proprietary garbage, non free file formats or DRM. It’s more than just licensing costs, which themselves are a major issue.

For me, this is a pretty good reason to keep giving my money to Microsoft (or Apple, I’ve started giving money to Steve Jobs lately) rather than making a switch to Linu

This line takes the cake however. LET’S GIVE OUR MONIES TO LARGE CORPORATIONS WHO RESTRICTED OUR CHOICES FROM THE START, FOR THE PURSUIT OF MASSIVE WEALTH BECAUSE THEY WILL ALLOW US THE GIANT BENEFIT OF ALLOWING US TO CONTINUE TO USE DRM. Give me a fucking break. Are you serious. ‘Thank you masta, for not beating me’ is how I read this. Look at the massive failure of Windows Vista, of trying to use old Windows file formats (we ALL remember the nightmare that was the WordPerfect file fomat), of the recording industry suing it’s fans because the fans wont pay them enough.

No thank you. I refuse to perpetuate the cycle of broken software and outdated business models.

-Eddie

new school

For those of you who don’t know, I will be attending the Illinois Institute of Technology next semester. Since orientation earlier this week, I have been bashing bugs in their system and proprietary licenses in general. My last email to them read something to the degree of ‘You won’t fix my bug report because you don’t want to, or don’t consider it a bug? Weak.’ Step two includes a planned invasion of the technology offices with Richard Stallman himself! (For those who read this and aren’t sure/to make this more clear: That was a joke. A very funny joke about RMS’ stance on free software). I’m excited to start a new school and learn stuff. I am so smart.

-Eddie Martinez

Holy Cow!

After doing two straight days of philosophy hw, I am wiped out. Goodbye internet!

-Eddie

ps.I’m giving a talk on Saturday at thechiglugmeeting. Come see me.

Adding fuel to the fire

In response to the CHIGLUG PLANET and their arguments concerning public health services (and lack thereof) in the United States, I will add the following:

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The original colonies tried socialism, and they starved. It wasn’t until the Jamestown colony (funded by the  Dutch East India Trading Company-the first multinational corporation ever) was established that any of the U.S. colonies could be said to be ’successful’. Max Weber made a great detail about the rise of the capitalism in his book, ‘Protestan Ethic and the Rise of Capitalism’. This is of course ignoring the history of Native American explotation that the nation is built upon. However, this brings me to my next point.

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Our nation is not ‘equal’ in any way, shape, or form.  Again. We are not equal. The nation has a massive brainwashing/propaganda machine in place to teach us  ‘American’ values integrated into our schools From very early on, we are al taught that we are equal (it says so right in the Constitution too!), and the nation has many programs in place to try and level the nation out. However, we are not a democracy. That is a word thrown around but one that is ultimately meaningless. Can I have one example of a real democracy in the history of the world? No? Why not? America is a representative democracy, built on a framework of a pseudo-democracy. It is, by definition, hierarchical. Hierarchies=Equality? <—- Really? Did I miss a lesson in logic class somewhere? Our nation is built on keeping most of the people out of power. Say what you will about voting, but it perpetuates powerlessness. Kicking the bums out of office or not voting them in is NOT the solution. These bums should NOT be thinking about getting power in the first place. And we, as a nation, act shocked or let down when someone realizes this and refuses to vote? Give me a break.

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So the nation is built on capitalism and inequality. Great. Expecting public services and human rights is a bit pollyanna in my opinion. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue the idea. We’ve already seen how Open Source software, digital media, and Web 2.0 have changed the market of the 21st century. We’ve seen traditional and outdated companies flailing wildly to keep a useless business model in place. Is this were all industries are going? Linus Torvalds said, ‘We are all moving in the same direction…’ I forget the exact quote and it is hugely out of contex, but you know where I am going with this.

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The reason why public companies and socially minded agendas fail is because the people don’t let them. Let’s make this even more clear. American people don’t let them. We are too brainwashed or stupid or capitalistic to let them. When Salvador Allende was elected to president in a democratically run nation on a socialist agenda, it was the CIA who took him down. When Mexico asks the World Bank for loans, it’s the IMF which says that they can’t have public services. It’s the privitization of these industries which is the reason why Carlos Slim is the richest man, above Bill Gates. And the people have to foot the bill. Well if you ask me, Carlos Slim is a sellout house negro. I have nothing but ill feeling towards those who exploit their own people for personal profit.

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Where do I stand on the issue of public services? I think it was Tristan who made the most valid point (although Tim had some good points as well). Governments should fear the people. Governments should be transperant.  Governments, socieities are man made constructs which SHOULD be used to help the people. But I do see the structure of capitalism in the nation which wont be leaving anytime soon. For my own views, I adopt a mixed market view of economics. One last quote, this time from Tom Gabel, before I sign off and return to my normally boring technology blog, “Beyond race and class we’ll find what really holds us back”.

-Eddie M.

What Ubuntu’s next move SHOULD be.

So Ubuntu has developed a great community, strong user base, bi-yearly release cycles, blah blah blah. I get it, and I do follow up on the news quite a bit. But here is the area where Ubuntu should be moving into next:

Exclusive clothing.

That’s right. Nothing screams ‘I am a balla and you should cop gear like mine ASAP’ as much as a nice pair of kicks. I’m sure most of the people out there reading this (I can’t imagine there would be many) think this is either a bad idea, or a stupid one. But I do believe that Ubuntu moving into the market of exclusive clothing and hyping the product as much as possible is a good move. Take a look at
shoes like these and tell me that you wouldn’t like to rock similar shoes to those.

So now I pass the idea onto the Ubuntu-Marketing team and when the clothes come, a free hookup or Fight Club style nod is more than enough for me.

-Eddie

(Yes damnit, I am serious.)