I have spent the last five years or so working mostly with Citrix at work. I love thin client. I have never been really impressed with VNC, but I was trying to set it up so I could VNC to a linux system I use at work as an extra PC. OpenSUSE will allow you to connect to the logon screen, theoretically, it doesn't seem to work in the current release, I just get a black screen.

Enter NoMachine's NX protocol. I install it their free binaries and in no time I have a fast responsive remote desktop, NX is amazing. What I really like is the ability to connect to just an application. I installed it on my home PC and I can use my existing SSH tunnel to launch NX sessions. I like to launch a bash console and from there launch other applications. They show up as seamless windows on my XP machine, but everything is running on my home OpenSUSE server.

The final awesomeness (is that a word), is the NX web companion. I installed this on my home server, now I can hit a webpage on my home server, it launches a java version of the NX client and connects. I don't need to have anything installed on the client PC, I don't need admin rights. The tunnel is encrypted! This works from the library, on windows and linux. I haven't tested mac or other stuff, but it should work on other platforms also, I think there is a client for some phones.
I could not be more impressed, I love NX. It's like my personal citrix server that runs linux and costs way less.

My company is majority thin client and we access most things via Citrix (or XenApp). Over the past year I have noticed a problem with long filenames in user profiles. It seems to be getting worse and usually the problem file is deep in some macromedia flash cache. The filenames are so long that the roaming profiles will fail to copy and the user will receive a temporary profiles. The fact I have started useing applications streamed to the servers is not helpful because Citrix (in their infinite wisdom) uses seemingling random 38 character filenames for their streamed application cache's.

I have had some success fixing that issue with Citrix's Universal Profile Manager, but the documentation on that is convoluted and I'm a little unsure of the ramifications of some of the options.

I have searched google and found little about this problem. I'm wondering if others are experiencing the same thing, and if so, how are you dealing with the issue. When I purge old profiles from the servers now, it takes hours. I have to delete all the ones I can normally, then dig into the ones that are throwing errors and rename filenames so they are short enough that windows can handle deleting them. This is very tedious.

I was just perusing a thread on Fark and I got to thinking about how lucky we are to be able to says "no property is worth a human life".

First of all, that's not true, but in our society it comes close. We have had stability and peace for so long that almost anything stolen can be replaced. People don't understand that is not always true.

I watched the show Jericho last year and they had an episode where they were afraid armed men were going to enter the town and some people wanted to blow up the main bridge into town to prevent this. It also got met thinking. In that situation (post apocalyptic), that bridge was probably equal to the lives of at least of dozen people. I personally would have recommended that the entire town bottleneck that bridge and fight to the last man (or woman).

My wife disagreed, but I wonder how many other people are capable of seeing how the value of property fluctuates heavily based on where you are. If you are lost in the winter, your coat becomes very valuable and I would fight to the death to keep it, in the summer who cares.

Someone on a recent thread was parroting the idea that the uninsured can ask for and receive significant discounts on their medical bills. I mentioned that I still thought they would overpay because the rate the insurance company negotiates is much less then the rate regular people are billed. I know this because I receive notices from my insurance company showing the amount charged and the amount payed.

So, lets pretend you got a bill for four routine pregnancy related lab tests (the bill is vague about the type of test), the total is $340. How much of a discount do you ask for?



82% would be close to my discount, but still a bit high. The insurance allowable amount for these tests was only $64.24, meaning I was overbilled by $309.76. Who would ever imagine that without an in depth knowledge of the medical field?

I just had a profound moment. This "Fair Tax" that every moron is pushing is just like the "Death Tax".
It's all in the name.

I'm copying this comment I just made on a story about how hard it is to cancel accounts. This issue really has me ticked off.

I cancelled one of my cc cards because I lost it. I never gave the replacement number to packet8 and they turned off my service.

Them having no valid cc and not providing me service did not stop them from charging me every month until I actually called them to cancel.

Mind you, they never sent me a bill via email or snail mail. Just an email once saying my cc wasn't working. Then when I called to reactivate service five or six months later they say I owe them about $100.

After a complaint with the FTC and State Attorney General they called me and said they would take care of it, then afew months later I get a collections notice.

I'm pondering my next step.

My wife just had two tests done. One was a simple test for mono. It was billed at roughly $250.00. Insurance negotiated discount was $238.00. Total amount paid by the insurance company $12.00. You can bet your ass I would have paid a hell of alot more then $12 if I was paying cash. It's so insane...

The other test was around $1200, with the insurance company only being charged $740 or so. I payed nothing but a $20 copay out of pocket, but the very fact that the system works this way is repugnant.

So I've been using Linux for afew years now. I've finally decided to try BSD. Thanks for making this possible VMware.

Anyway the FreeBSIE CD is really neat, google it.
Actual FreeBSD is very difficult, configuring x is alluding me...

I keep submitting this as an ask slashdot, but it keeps getting shot down. I don't think anybody ever reads my journal, but I thought I'd put this here anyway. I am fascinated by this D2D backup system from Unitrends. I've heard from a couple resellers who have bad things to say about their first generation stuff. The bad things seem to come from MS centric customers. I'm backing up mostly Windows, but I'm comfortable with Linux.

I'm wondering if anybody has experience with these products, especially the newer ones. They sound like the best thing since sliced bread to me.

The military got it right this time. I was listening to NPR and heard an interview with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marince Corp General Peter Pace. He indicated that a soldier on the ground is obligated to intevene if he/she see's torture or inhumane treatment. Karl Rove happened to be standing next to him and tried to clarify by saying "I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it, it's to report it...?" But no, General Pace disagreed asserting if they are physically present they have an obligation to stop it.

I personally love the professionalism of our military in general. A military General may be many things, but a weasel isn't one of them, unfortunately all too often our polititcians are...

Somebody had a journel entry I enjoyed which was about how much baby-boomers suck.

I have to agree and bring up another point I don't think was mentioned. I also think this tends to apply to gen-x'ers, especially the older ones.

They don't seem able to let go of the way things were when they grew up. Come on folks, television and movies aren't even 100 years old, but people have so much trouble with the concept that over-the-air, paid for by commercials, television is going away. Young people trade things on P2P, that's just the way things are. You didn't see people upset when television came out and broadcast plays or sporting events that only attendees could previoulsy view. The internet is just an extension of this avaliablity of content. It's not going away.

Here are my predicitons of things baby boomers grew up with that are going away:

Movie theaters, they don't make money efficiently, they will become a niche market.

Television will move to the internet. Cable television is really similar to internet television. It's just a slightly different transmission protocol.

Mega-music stars, it's already become a kind of joke, I mean come on, "American Idol"? Who beleives this hype? How many of those people are really making any money for themselves? It's not about the fame guys, we're not willing to let you rape us so we can be popular

More on this later

So I'm having a birthday party for my oldest girl, she turned four on Thursday.
All of my wife's family that lives in town is coming. My family is mostly out of town for the next week.
The problem is her crack-head neice has got herself infected with scabies????!!!!!
I'm trying to decide what to do, I don't need a bunch of kids with scabies. My wife isn't supposed to know her neice has scabies so I'm not sure if we can get her to just stay home.

I don't use itunes or own an ipod. I don't particularly like apple, mostly because I'm cheap.
However, I do have a code for a free song from itunes, got it on a Mt. Dew and rather then throwing it away I will post it here.

First come, first served.

sw6rp k36ht

Well I was stopped by the police Saturday for no reason other then "we ran your plate and it came back as belonging to somebody with a suspended license".
Why did you run my plate? "We don't need a reason".
WRONG!

Come to find out, Indiana suspended my license to drive in 2000. This is odd because I was issued a license in Michigan in 1999, at which point I turned in my Indiana license. I still use my Michigan license because I have been too busy to get my Indiana license and I have to track down my Birth Certificate.

I'm trying to make a chart, any suggestions.

Level
Purgatory (Repenting Believers) You have been in computer Hell & never want to go back.

Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) No backup, anti-virus, or firewall, no problems yet.

Level 2 (Lustful) computer seems slower then usual, thinking of upgrading.

Level 3 (Gluttonous) downloaded one to many things, got virus or spyware that is difficult to remove.

Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) Computer has multiple small problems, too much trouble to fix.

Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) computer never seems to work properly, you want your old typewriter back.

Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) You swear your computer is doing things you never told it to, it seem possessed.

Level 7 (Violent) Your computer has enraged you and you want to throw it across the room.

Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) You are inundated with SPAM and pop-ups. It's impossible to work.

Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) Your computer or network has been compromised. You need to know how it happened and contain the damage.