Switching To Linux

 Computing, Linux  No Responses »
Dec 152024
 

This probably isn’t the one you should read; I didn’t switch to Linux. I’ve been running Linux since the kernel version was 0.96; before Linux distributions. I haven’t run Windows at home until I could run it in a virtual machine … and almost exclusively for work.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few thoughts on it.

Don’t Switch

Is the thought of replacing Windows on your machine making you a bit nervous? No wonder! So don’t do it.

If you have the space and money to do it, pick up a refurbished laptop from Linux – refurbished laptops from manufacturers such as Lenovo or Dell can often be obtained for cheap. Performance will suffer a bit, but it’s only bleeding edge applications where that matters – the latest games, video production, and local AI. Anything more mundane will work fine.

The cheapskate option is to run Linux as a virtual machine on your existing machine; there’s plenty of options here from VirtualBox to VMWare. Or even libvirt (a gooey for QEMU and others) which is the one I use. This has several advantages – you can switch back and forth very easily, and even access your files on your C drive.

What Distribution?

You might get the impression from Youtube that the choice of which Linux distribution you choose makes an enormous difference. No it doesn’t.

Sure different distributions look a bit different, but when you come down to it, when you’re writing your Will in LibreOffice you will have a hard time telling the difference between the different distributions. Even in terms of appearance you can often make distribution X look like distribution Y.

That’s not to say you can’t have fun selecting different distributions, but just don’t think it is that important. Choose a popular one (such as Ubuntu) so searching for answers will be more likely to get an answer that works for you.

Use It

Probably the most obvious advice is to use it. Every task you do with a computer, try to do it with Linux. Cheat if you need to but add what you resorted to Windows to use to a list of things to find out how to do.

Linux is different and it runs different applications, so it will take some learning to become as effective (or even more so) as you would be with Windows. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to switch over – there’s nothing wrong with it taking 6 months.

And have fun doing it!

Brian Won’t Be The Last CEO Killed

 Politics  No Responses »
Dec 102024
 

I’ve missed most of this story – how someone gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealth. That’s because I’ve had my own healthcare issues ironically enough. And was taken care of by the NHS.

I’ve even missed most of the social media response which was apparently less than totally sympathetic.

Killing someone is wrong; even if you see it as some form of justice. Justice involves a trial with members of the community involved in the decision of guilt or innocence. Without that it becomes just personal revenge.

But what if the community won’t prosecute and judge someone’s crimes? The US health insurance business has plenty of incidents that victims could easily perceive as a crime – for example health care bankruptcies.

It just becomes a little harder to condemn someone seeking revenge if there is no real chance of getting justice.

It’ll be interesting to see the trial of the alleged killer – it could well result in Jury Nullification where the jury finds the defendant not guilty because whilst they have broken the law, the jury feels it was justified.

In Remembrance

Invasion of Southport By Racist Thugs

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Aug 022024
 

Last week as the residents of Southport were holding a vigil in memory of the three little girls who were killed and of those kids who are still in hospital, Southport was invaded by racist thugs who tried attacking the vigil and also tried attacking the mosque.

There was no indication that the murderer was a muslim; the instigators just assumed that.

There was no indication that the murdered was an asylum seeker; the instigators just assumed that.

The false name of the murdered was invented to make it sound muslim; it’s rumoured that it actually translates as “My Apartment”. The instigators didn’t care about that.

The Instigators

It’s all very well blaming the “useful idiots” who were rioting in Southport last night – and they certainly deserve to be locked up. But who instigated their visit?

There are plenty of possible candidates who posted vile assumptions about the murderer on 𝕏 clearly trying to sway the narrative in the direction of inciting hatred for immigrants and asylum seekers. I won’t name them here except to say they are easily recognisable as frothing at the mouth loons of the far-right.

Yes, far-right.

They may attempt to deny it, and the “useful idiots” at the riot may well claim they’re ordinary British working-class (they’re not), but the instigators are definitely far-right.

The EDL

Some of the reports name the EDL as being behind the riots yet some will instantly point out that the EDL no longer exists as an organisation.

Well, perhaps.

But the easiest way to keep an organisation from being banned is to “disband” it; an organisation doesn’t need a public face, a web site, or a corporate identity. Particularly if it is intent on pursuing illegal activities – such as rioting.

Russian Involvement?

This is pure speculation, but it is interesting to see that Europe (and the USA) has a problem with far-right thugs just when it would be helpful to distract us from what the Russians are doing to Ukraine. And we know that the Russians like interfering in the West.

If any of those instigators are taking money from the Russians (and to be fair, I don’t know that they are), then they’re not just guilty of incitement to riot, but also guilty of treason.

But there is alleged links between the “News” channel that first published the disinformation on the murderer : here, here, and probably other places too.

Conclusion

Unless we want thugs fueled up on cheap lager touring the country rioting in random places, we need to take action. And not just locking up the thugs – whilst their actions are inexcusable, they are still just “useful idiots”.

No, we need to go after those who incited the violence by spreading disinformation … and no, an apology isn’t enough. They should be charged with “incitement to riot” and for certain of those in parliament, also “mafeasance in office”.

And we need a far more in depth investigation of just what the Russian intelligence services are up to in our country.

The Misfit
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