For the last year or so, I've been happily using Debian, with a mixture of sources so I was stable, but current, just like nearly everyone who uses Debian.

Then I tried to upgrade or something insane like that, using aptitude, and the whole thing went tits up on me. No amount of cussing, kicking things, or actual tinkering with the software could save my machine.

I thought about asking for some advice in the Debian forums, or on one of the lists, until I ran out of fingers in my entire family tree to count the times someone said some variant of, "Shut up, noob! Your stoopid and not leet leik I am! Go back to Winblows! Ha! HA! HA!!!1"

Yeah. Guess I'm not venturing into those waters, so I figured I'd just have to grab my network install CD and start over (luckily, I set up /home on its own partition a long time ago, so if I fuck something up really bad, I don't lose all my porn very important data.

The day I planned to reinstall Debian, I read that Dapper Drake had been released, and everyone loved it so much, they totally wanted to marry it. A friend of mine, who is wise in the ways of science and the air speed velocity of unladen swallows has also been singing the praises of Ubuntu for a long, long time, so I grabbed a Live CD to see what all the fuss was about.

Holy shit. What an awesome bit of work it is! It's the first Linux distro to find every single bit of hardware on my old Sony Vaio desktop machine, including all the USB ports. It looked great, too, and was the most "Mac-like" Linux I've ever used.

I realize that a lot of you are mocking me right now, but listen for a second: I'm not interested in hacking on my kernel to make sure something is detected during boot, or modifying all sorts of settings in a text editor just so I can make the damn thing find my camera . . . and don't get me started about CUPS. I love technology, and I love and fully believe in "free" as in speech, and I'm grateful for free as in beer. But also really into "works," as in just does. And on my machine here, Dapper Drake just works, and it's awesome. This is the Linux distro that I can take to my parents, and to my friends who are drowning in a sea of FUD, and convince them that they don't really have to be part of the Borg if they don't want to.

And ultimately, I believe that has to be our goal if we're going to convince people to give Linux a real, serious try as an alternative to Windows. We need to be able to tell them, with confidence, "Put this CD in your machine, and give it a try. I think you'll like it, because it just works."

Some thoughts on the cost of those udocumented^willegal aliens.

Tom Tancredo

I'm sorry everyone, I truely am.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_30

* 1888 - Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.

* 1967 - BBC Radio 1 is launched; the BBC's other national radio stations also adopt numeric names. Tony Blackburn presents the first show.

(I'm not sure which is scarier.)

Births:
* 1971 - Jenna Elfman, American actress

It's scary to think she's a year YOUNGER than me.

Yes, September 30th a day of infamy, despair, and destruction. I'm not living up to my birthright.

Sometimes it is worth listening to a lawyer. gmhowell has the details.

I'd say this captures things pretty well. Anniversary reflection.

Before shining up your bat and heading up to Canada make sure you are properly informed.

A rather smart (and pointed) way of expressing dismay at the latest award winning music. Give it a read.

A heartwarming tale of charity and the good things that come from a simple prize.

The tale.

Well you just have to see it to believe it. An interesting example of someone with a good eye for editing, a little too much free time, and a warped sense of humor.

The shocking trailer.

In the space of 48 hours, the three top Democrats for 2008 proved themselves to have all the staying power of a nervous virgin on the set of a porn shoot.

source

Sometimes I am left in complete awe of what some people can do with our language.

With apologies to Mr. Stewart. Enjoy

Looks like it wasn't just civilians at that Pakistani dinner. Details

I really really really don't know how to interpret this.

I'm not sure if I'm drinking too much or not enough.

More evidence of Bush's "prevarications" about Iraq and terrorist connections.

Additionally there are details about untranslated documents seized from Iraq that will I'm sure be more good news for the Lied/Died crowd.

Please read this.

Also take a few moments tomorrow to thank those who are out there serving and sacrificing, including our own who have been there and done that.

Thanks RW.