Author: paul

another Jaguar gotcha

It’s nice that Jaguar includes Samba support, but if you already had it installed (via fink, for example), Jaguar seems to stop any but the official Samba release from running.

As noted hereI added a line in /etc/hostconfig fo enable the samba daemons to start at boottime. For whatever reason, the fink managed versions don’t run and since Apple calls it SMBSERVER instead of SAMBA and it’s start value defaults to NO, samba just mysteriously stopped working.

SAMBA=-YES-
CUPS=-YES-
DNSSERVER=-NO-
IPV6=-YES-
SMBSERVER=-NO-

So I could change the SMBSERVER value to YES but I don’t see a StartupItem bundle for it. And why does the version I had installed and working no longer work?
Continue reading “another Jaguar gotcha”

school uniforms create discipline problems??

Plaid’s Out, Again, as Schools Give Up Requiring Uniforms

This is a simple case of parents and kids not buying into the program. Or more to the point, it’s the old pattern of affluent suburban parents thinking they don’t need to follow the same rules as everyone else and being unwilling or unable to tell their kids “no” when it comes to simple behavior rules.

“But I think uniforms have peaked for now. If there are a couple of school shootings tomorrow, we may see it again. But my sense is that right now people are focused on larger issues.”

What’s a larger issue than safety or community or basic civics/citizenship? And why will take school shootings to bring that back into focus?

Gee, you mean it’s not legal to do this?

A Simple Click Stirs a Lot of Outrage

The State Department site, it turns out, had been providing a link to a Web site run by the Republican National Committee despite federal laws prohibiting government resources from being used for partisan purposes.

Accident by unknowing staff (funny how every organization keeps a couple of these folks around) or wilful flouting of the law? You make the call.

well, what else would you expect?

America Online Is Making More Changes at the Top

Jordan Rohan, an analyst with SoundView Technologies, said, “This company is becoming more and more like Time Warner and less like AOL.”

It seemed likely this would happen: TWX is much bigger that AOL and predates dialup information services by decades, with operations in many industries and regions of the globe. It didn’t seem like that AOL’s young khaki and golf shirt culture would win out over TWX’s more seasoned suits, especially as they were outnumbered. Maybe now the value of the merged company will reflect the strengths of the Time Warner assets, rather than what AOL brought to the marriage.

deep fried Snickers bar, anyone?

One of the staples of the school lunchbox has splashed into the frying vat as the newest must-eat addition to the Puyallup Fair’s food lineup: deep-fried Twinkies.

Of course, this is not a new idea: the deep-fried Mars Bar is Scotland’s National Dish.

This sort of food is the reason why Scotland has the highest heart attack per person ratio of any country in Europe.

It may not be a new idea, but it’s disgusting.

Dr David Edgar Villanueva’s words immortalized

Google Search: It is necessary to stress that there is no position more anti-competitive than that of the big software producers, which frequently abuse their dominant position, since in innumerable cases they propose as a solution to problems raised by users: ‘Update your software to the new version’ (at the user’s expense naturally);

Found that someone had used an entire paragraph as a search query in Google: of course, Google limits queries to 10 words and drops common stop words (prepositions, conjunctions). Still, that text has been cited many places.

sad that this needs to be asked

How Mac and Windows Can Talk to Each Other

I have been a PC user since 1984. Until recently it has been my understanding that Mac files and Windows files are incompatible. Is that still true? If I should buy an iMac, could I still exchange files with people who use Windows 98 or XP?

This hasn’t been true for everyday applications for most of the 18 years this person has been harboring these delusions. No wonder Apple still struggles to get a foothold.

wildlife sightings

While sitting in my downstairs office, I heard some small animal foot steps crunching the leaves along the path: at first I guessed it was the neighbor’s cat, but the steps were not deliberate enough, too random. I looked at the window to see what I might see, as the steps got closer, and there he was , suddenly poking his snout into the light.

No, that’s not the same guy I saw, but the effect is the same. They are cute little buggers, but I’m not sure I want any hanging around my house.

a tasteful commemoration

inremembrance11_th.gif

This image was all that appeared below the banner of the Seattle Times today, measuring about 4 inches tall, center above the fold, with the text underneath. The news started on page A3, with A2 reserved for the names of the victims. Even the barcode was moved to the back page.

Stark, understated, and moving, I think.