Robert Small, The blog thereof.

http://www.robertsmall.org/wiki/index.php5?title=Chute_Stick#The_Software

Just a quick blog to say that I’ve added a few things to Chute Stick. I’ll thin down the number of packages as soon as possible, but we’re still well within the 1GB memory stick so I can spend time doing that later.

I’ve added all versions of Skype. Skype provides a reasonably secure method of getting a message to someone; it also permeates firewalls better than most viruses. I added 7zip as it seems to be a good free alternative to WinZip, the 7zip compression itself is remarkable. In some of my experiments with it I’ve experienced almost 50% smaller files than standard zip (using `zip -9`). Because of this excellent compression I’ve included a copy of p7zip (the *nix port). CamStudio may seem like a strange choice, but it does offer a way for you to quickly record a video of how to do something, this could be essential if you’re unable to tutor someone face to face but need them to (for example) administer a box for you. I’ve debated if a Linux desktop recorder is needed, but if you have ssh you can probably do most administration through that.

Well, that’s all so far, I’m snowed under with work at the moment so I was just popping this through. Most of the additions have been related to things I’ve needed for work over the last few days. I will be blogging about some other things (mostly work related) soon, when I escape anyway!

Kind regards, Robert.

http://www.robertsmall.org/wiki/index.php5?title=Chute_Stick#The_Software

or,

Why I think the lottery and X-Factor like TV shows are bad.

Society owes you little. It does not owe you fame and fortune, that’s something you may well owe yourself to earn, but it’s not something that society owes you. Relatively recently it has become the fashionable thing to want to magically become rich and sometimes famous.Life is not a lottery, even ‘ideal’ jobs like ‘network marketing’ require you to work hard and learn your trade before you have any chance of making much money. However it seems we’ve become enchanted with the vision of instant ‘celebrity in a bag’; hard earned success gained from talent and energy has been replaced by flash success based on luck and the opinions of a couple of judges.

Not only do we want to chose our celebrities by the proxy of talent show hosts, we want to chose our rich by the proxy of lottery cards. There have always been ‘lucky’ people who gained riches through inheritance and had no idea how to use them. Today it seems to be something we desire, to get something without working or otherwise ‘earning’ it. Personally I dislike gaining anything by raffle or lottery, I was brought up to believe that success had to be earned and not won.

I feel this way of thinking could be part of the reason why we have such a ’sue, sue, sue’ culture. People are always looking for ’something from nothing’.

I may be wrong, tell me how you feel.

Kind regards, Robert.

My lunch today was not amazingly notable, but I’d like to tell you about it anyway. Mainly because of the stuffed peppers, it was one of my first attempts at ‘art’ in the form of food. The red is a stuffed pepper, feta and olives. Not amazingly exciting to look at, but more presentation than normal and very tasty! Do please provide your ideas for similar takes on this, I’d love to know if there’s a traditional dish of a similar type.

Kind regards, Robert.

‘Doesn’t have a point of view,
Knows not where he’s going to,
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don’t know what you’re missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.’

People interest me, quite a lot in fact. I often hear people give a vague allegiance to a political party, but when I try to find out how many of the core values they share it’s often surprisingly fewer than one might hope. All too often it seems that people have one view and a different political support, believing in freedom and positive action against environmental crime. It’s true that we create not only our own future but the future of our children and their children. Surely then we should think more before we idly act or fail to act.

I believe that it’s the duty of every world citizen - and you are a citizen of the world, like it or not - to strongly consider and debate world issues. Our thoughts may well pave the future of our own lives and those of billions of others.

I challenge you to never vote for a political party because your parents did or because your friends do, I challenge you to be your own person and make your own choices. It’ll surprise you how something you do can change things so far from you. A Kabbalist described it to me like a stone thrown into a pool of water, although the stone may be small the ripples still reach a surprising distance. In the same way your hurried attempt to cut queues at a set of lights might spoil someone’s day in another country. Think, if such a small thing can do something so big, what can a big thing like a vote do?

Even your choice of car could change many people’s lives. A small energy efficient car will produce less pollution; and if you believe in global climate change or not, this is a good thing. A larger car may protect you better in an accident but heavily increases the chance of you injuring or killing someone else.

I think the moral I’d take from this is to think before you act, always. Don’t be a nowhere man.

Kind regards, Robert.