OpenVPN.

Well, I didn't actually say anything negative about either Pandora or Last. I in fact said Last works better for me. I simply said that I don't consider automatons to be "radio". I agree with you here - I have found many artists that I now love, have paid money for their records and to see them that I would never have heard at all if it weren't for Last, and to a lesser degree, Pandora.

I am simply making a distinction between automated services and actual DJ based stations. There are MANY shows on both stations I have personally been involved with that I don't listen to more than once in a blue moon, because I know the DJ does not share taste with me.

I'm a new DJ at Radio 23 - I have nothing to do with their web presence. I built or modified a lot of the web presence at House of Sound. I also see confusion in what I think is a pretty, but dysfunctional, web site they've got going. I like their human-side approach, though, outside of the website - online training for free for would-be DJs anywhere on the planet and then a platform for broadcasting.

And of course, feel free to listen to other stations instead! That is practically the whole point. Democratization of shit that you put in your ears.

I find the summary nearly trollish. There is no standard bearer in internet radio, and if there were, I don't think Pandora would be it. Yes, lots of people use Pandora. Lots also use Last.fm, and/or listen to the tens of thousands of independent internet radio stations out there - many of which are actually, I believe, much more in the spirit of "radio" than automated algorithmic music-recommendation services like Pandora and Last.

I say these indie stations (House of Sound is one that I co-founded, and I currently DJ at Radio 23 - there are thousands of others) are more in the spirit of radio, because they actually have live DJs, "spinning" (sometimes literally) records, mp3s, YouTubes, even cassettes, on a constant basis. These "stations" are interactive to a degree that music recommendation services are not - they are inflected by the taste of the DJ, many have live-chat or call-in features, and they are in real time.

My conclusion is that neither Pandora nor Last.fm are actually "radio" at all. Pandora recommends music to a listener based on pseudo-scientific analysis of what a person listens to (key, tempo, tone, volume, etc.) and Last uses the Amazon social model (x people who listened to y track also listened to z). I find, personally, Last's social model to be more effective for me than Pandora's algorithmic approach. Neither are radio. Radio, to me, whether based on radio waves or not, is a real person exposing their tastes, quirks, personality and even mistakes.

There is an awesome, long running "Makerspace" in Portland, Oregon, that was formerly a public vocational school. http://watershedpdx.com/ - but it takes individual and collective will and effort for such a thing to happen. They shouldn't just be handed out by the state.

Baloney. Long distance relationships are, for certain, difficult as hell. But they can work, and things as asked by TimBur1e6 are legit ways to feel together. My fiance and I watched movies together (both of us having downloaded the same file, starting it at the same time) while on Skype, and it really did engender a feeling of closeness.

"you're splitting hairs if you only accept statements that are universal." -- THIS.

It's certainly not universal, but for many it is true. I am a far-too-skinny (unhealthily so) person engaged to a person who is quite overweight. Her weight doesn't bother me a bit, nor mine her, but we both have serious difficulties with our own body image. Thing is - we both have what might be called eating disorders - both related to stress or anxiety. If I feel anxiety, I simply CAN'T eat. Not hungry, can't finish even small meals. If she feels anxiety, she is absolutely compelled to eat constantly. We know this is not healthy, and are trying to find ways to healthily reduce our anxiety, such that both of us might eat "normally" (which is another total variant from individual to individual).

I see two common trends to the comments here:

1) Only negative comments, not a single positive comment about this distro.
2) Not a single person appears to have actually used it.

I'd be very interested in an old-school, actually informed comment from someone who has actually installed and used it.

-astro

Petr Kropotkin wrote a series of essays in the late 1800s that became the book "Mutual Aid". It lays out in beautiful and exquisite detail the premise here, that co-operation is a primary factor in evolution, rather than simple dominance, as he felt Darwin suggested. It is truly a masterpiece work and I highly recommend that anyone interested in the subject read it.

Kropotkin went on to become (very much posthumously) one of the most-read and best regarded philosophers of the Anarchist political movement; his politics were largely molded by his observations that are laid out in Mutual Aid.

I find this to be quite true. Though not entirely voluntarily,* I recently downsized from 25 years of built up possessions to almost nothing - a backpack and a couple of suitcases worth of belongings. It is absolutely liberating. Yes, there are some things I miss - but I don't think of it nearly as much as I would have thought. The freedom of not worrying about "things" is very real.

* I was relieved of many of my possessions in my divorce; I shed the rest of them moving to Europe after a lifetime in the USA.

As far as I understand it, query autocomplete is mostly, but not entirely, social in nature - which turns out to be a pretty good predictor. It is quite likely that I will be looking for the same thing as millions of other people. I think autocomplete is probably a combination of social and algorithmic, And for me, even for technical queries, it works so well that sometimes I am astounded - or disappointed that I was not the first to have a brilliant idea.

I'm actually shocked that the overwhelming opinion here on /. seems to be vehement defense of the status quo. I'm certainly not advocating ludicrous moves like enterprise adoption of Win8, but really, people? Upgrade already. Even things like MS Excel DO take on major functional upgrades over time. I absolutely can't imagine doing my job or navigating my day to day life with even just 10 year old technology.

Add vodka, and we're in business. Breakfast of, uh, champions.

With a planet full of starving people I continue to fail to understand how using food crops for fuel makes any kind of rational sense at all.

I think it's time to dispel the notion that "...there aren't a lot of technically inept people running Linux as a desktop at home." This is simply not as true as it used to be. I have a growing number of friends running Linux on their single computer that is used by the whole family. These people are generally FAR from technically adept. Why are they running Linux? They can't afford Windows any more. As Windows has become harder to pirate, the required hardware has become more expensive, and with the advent of many small shops or non-profits selling very inexpensive, turn-on-and-it-works Linux systems, I am seeing it much more commonly in homes of average or below technical aptitude.

The scary economy is actually driving people to FOSS, in my subjective experience.