[Sussex] Take that imperical evidence!

Sun Mar 2 21:31:01 UTC 2003

{ in the theme of the Muppet Show }
its time to sed your Awk Script,
its time to chmod your rights,
it time to grab a coffee.
Cause its Sunday Rant time tonight!

[
Barry: We're no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of
becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but just for tonight, we are Barry
Jive and his Uptown Five.
]

My gawds can you guys talk, and thats not just the opinion of Mr Gibbons
after 1 night of Slugs. Its been a active week on the list and the
website. This can only be good news for the ideology of Debian and the
lesser fundementals of Gentoo and Redhat. 

We really covered some ground this week, we fixed problems, answered
issues, found proofs and really gave a damn about the number 1.

For those wondering Mr Dobson one the competition last week, with the
only entry from the list. His prize , his choice of magazine purchase
from my local branch of WHSmith to the value of 6.99 <grin> see next
time I say theres a prize.. I mean it. Ask Phil ( fly catcher ) Gibbons
to see if I dont.

I will come back to that later in the list.

Well starting where we ended out, and Mr Smith finally repatched his
kernel and his follicles. acpi=off was a real benefit to managing Gentoo
on his box. Now if only he can fix his bike as quick as his hardrive.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001694.html

[

Rob: How does he do it, you ask. How does 
[stops, whispers] 
Rob: how does an average guy like me become the number one lover-man in
his particular postal district? He's grumpy, he's broke, he hangs out
with the musical moron twins.. 
[shrugs] 

]

Geoff followed up 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001695.html
Keeping up the Gentoo feel with notification that Netraverse were
dropping in and upping the ante in helping us all with the translation
from the BugZone to the EndZone. 
	http://www.netraverse.com/gentoo.htm

As it seems that Gentoo is certainly marching forward with updates and
RC releases. its great to see that distros are continuing to get better
and slicker as they release on a daily basis. All without the need to
encourage consumers to purchase new licenses every day.

Although it does appear that many of our ISPs are looking to cap our
utlisation of Bandwidth with a per GB a day  ? which would make test
installs and downloads of release candidates like returning to the dark
ages of 56k Modems !

[

Rob: Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both
the Israelies and the Palestinians. 
Laura: No, it's really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and
Art Garfunkel make pop records. 
Rob: Made! Made! Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him

]

Chris Parsons, had some trouble with ethernet cards this week, seemed to
have taken up quite a large percentage of processor time and bandwidth
for all of us , discussins possible issues and resolutions.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001697.html

Geoff was quick on the draw to highlight that as per usual the technical
support element of the list requires at least a little more detail than
it dont work. I believe this is accordance with the PSI CORP treaty that
stops us from exercising our Psionic powers to deduce the Mundanes
issues. 

[

Laura: Listen, Rob, would you have sex with me? Because I want to feel
something else than this. It either that, or I go home and put my hand
in the fire. Unless you want to stub cigarettes out on my arm. 
Rob: No. I only have a few left, I've been saving them for later

]

Seems that those pseky 8139 RTL cards are the root of all evil, either
they work, flawlessly , or they dont. Which takes me onto another
question. Why do people actually give a damn about network card
performance when their PCs are running 1.8Ghz and all they are doing is
opening a bleeding Word Document! sigh some things I never understand.
like the need for some Windows Sys Adm to over jusitfy his position by
suggesting that at least he specified the correct network card.

Seems however that some cards a little flawed.
	http://www.scyld.com/network/rtl8139.html

[
Rob: I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week and
they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago

]

Geoff also appears to be a regular Lurker of the userfriendly list as on 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001699.html
he posted comments about the comic strip
	http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030224

Userfriendly, its the Linux enthusiasts Dilbert, being as we are beyond
the relevance of the cubicle police and PHB ness of the world. Although
Ive seen some episodes of Dilbert recently which really do reflect the
real world experiences of certain list members to some other business.
Though I could not quite get the link between Steves comments and the
Strip. Still maybe oneday Illiad will immortalise me.

[

Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids
playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture
of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to
thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection,
pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was
miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

]

Speaking of new purchases, ok I wasnt, but I love the subtle way Geoff
suggests his noveau richesness with his new all power purchase. [
editors note: I dont give a damn really but the last sentence sounded
more pouncy. ] 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001707.html
Geoff apparently went in search of Zero Microsoft Tax, a effort
determined in vein since as I understand it the root name servers of the
net pay Microsoft  few cents for every time people mention them in their
emails.

[
Barry: Holy shite. What the fuck is that? 
Dick: It's the new Belle and Sebastian-- 
Rob: It's a record we've been listening to and enjoying, Barry. 
Barry: Well, that's unfortunate, because it sucks ass!
]

Gareth Ablett joined the ranks of wierdo network issues this week with
apparent network failure. being unsure of the Hub , Ethernet or other
issues. 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001735.html
The list as ever quickly jumped in to assist the great Leader. Though I
am a little disappointed with Gareths very User like comment.
	"Both machines where ok working before"
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001737.html
I dont kow about you , but anytime I called out the RAC, or AA I never
once said to them. It was working a few miles ago ! So why do we always
think our hardware will be infallible.

oh it was the hub by the way.

[
Rob: It wasn't boring. But it wasn't spectacular either? It was just-
Good. Very good. 
]

but Andrew and John were able to reclarify discussions about the CDR
burning and its capabilities.
	http://www.geocities.com/rlcomp_1999/cdrw.html
	http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html

Personally I do all my AOL CDs in the Microwave.

Someone advertised for a Sales guy
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001748.html

Which as usual for any linux based list soon devolved into a completely
off topic conversation , in the case the correct pronounciation of the
Company Name 3ait. Which for those interested is "Three Eight"

[
Barry's Customer: Hi, do you have the song "I Just Called To Say I Love
You?" It's for my daughter's birthday. 
Barry: Yea we have it. 
Barry's Customer: Well, can I have it? Barry. No, actually, you can't. 
Barry's Customer: Why not?! 
Barry: God! Do you even know your daughter? There's no way she likes
that song! Oop, is she in a coma?

]
Andrew Guard, upped the IQ level with these topical pointers
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001749.html
		http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/18652.html
		http://ifaq.wap.org/posters/billgate.html
		http://home.xyzz.org/funnies/index.php?first=16&amount=16
he is also most reponsible for 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001762.html
		http://www.inform-fiction.org/
		http://www.inform-fiction.org/software/current.html
And for making effort to update useful file links.	
		http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001764.html
which John added to
	http://www.tightvnc.com
	http://www.realvnc.com
	http://www.hubbe.net/~hubbe/x2vnc.html

[

Customer: Do you have Soul? 
Rob: That all depends. 

]

Mucho commento about the Thursday meeting. 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001709.html
Which for the record was at the kings head, yes we did not have power or
wireless. Yes I am working on getting both arranged. Yes I am arranging
for the use of the Cellar for the next meeting and hopefully the
wireless and power will both we available their. 
Mr Ford, Mr Smith both apologised for their absences.
We had many new faces, Such as Andrew Guard, Robin Shepard, Phil
Gibbons.

Geoff made some good efforts to correctly and neatly place details about
the kings head on the list.
This seems to have been a effective pointer.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=517281&y=130521&z=0&sv=RH12+1EG&st=2
&tl=Postcode+RH12+1EG&pc=RH12+1EG&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

David Chapman, had some kdat permission issues.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001722.html
I dont really know why its wierd, but when youve been reading through
all these topics, if just jumps right in their.

[
Rob: Marvin Gaye! 
Laura: I know. 
Rob: Let's get it on. That's our song. Marvin Gaye is responsible for
our entire relationship. 
Laura: Oh, is that so? I'd like a word with him then

]

And as the Week went on we added more stuff to the website.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001770.html
Resulting in updates, corrections and Mr Dominic Crafts insistence on
correctly spelling his name.

New People Joined the list and introduced themselves. Though I wonder
what the difference is between someone joining the list and delurking ?
		http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001772.html
Though there seems to be some insistence that we geeks should be badly
dressed in public. Though its good to see Mr Dobson idetifying himself
as a Vocal member. 

Adam Smith, He of the dysfunctional ( now theres a word I learned from
my dismissal!) Vehicular motivation made apologies for not makeing it.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001779.html
Food Aid, and emergency Video Conferencing will be sent to NewHaven for
the next meeting.

And speaking of Unrelated topics.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001783.html
Wierd how Mutt leads to Railtrack
	http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/enquiries/fs_enquiries.htm

Andrew asked yet another relevant question, this time concerning proxy
servers. Which lead to a whole discourse on Firewalls, Proxies and just
plane old routing questions.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001785.html
Which of course lead to interesting links to useful sites
	http://www.squid-cache.org/

John ( not Fautly ) wrote about issues over his Solwise box
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001801.html
leading to interesting comments about adsl guide, and other useful links
for iptables and the rest.
	http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/2003/q1/sar_110.asp
	http://muse.linuxmafia.org/gshield.html

This I feel led Derek Harding to come out of the woodwork with questions
about IPCHAINS
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001807.html
Steve provided some excellent Ascii network diagrams ( I did  not
realise that Visio exported to Ascii! ) to demonstrate connectivity.

Although this was mutated into questions about exporting Access
Databases
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001831.html
Which makes you wonder why so many Open Source project whilst capable of
replacing Commercial Functionality are not able to help translate and
move systems from Commercial projects to open source. Wierd how so many
of those linux enthusiasts come out of the closet as Access developers..
Must be some sort of Illness. Although Matt Brown ( a regular Lurker of
this list ) contributed a usefull thought.

	http://www.mysql.com/portal/software/convertors/index.html

--- did i mention we had been active this week! ----

Robin interjected with a good pointer to desktop linux.
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001810.html
	http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT9186091276.html
Now I for one am all for people using Linux at the desktop but for the
moment not even I , the great evangelist , can condone it . However This
year is when I believe it gets as near as makes no difference to the
deliver Linux to the desktop. Andrew ( the Open Amiga Enthusiast ) was
quick to point out similar issues. Though Robin was concerned about
asking Stoopid questions on this list, which is wierd cause Steve and
Geoff and I never worry about people asking stupid questions ( rotflmao
).
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001826.html

Geoff finally admitted to having blocked a few emails, 
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001794.html

Following on from Thursdays Meeting Mark Harrison and Geoff Teale
attemtped to continue without rigurous evidence in the pursuit of 1 not
being a Odd number, and is certainly not a prime.

	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001843.htm

But he certainly had time to introduce a funny new Serve YourSelf Worm
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/001833.html

Meanwhile, Geoff, assuming his weekly identity of Emma posted his
posutaltion over theory
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-March/001849.html

which Emma whom was Geoff soon retracted
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-March/001855.html

and whilst I usually wont post my own comments
	http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/eff/awards/prime-info.html
	http://primes.utm.edu/glossary/page.php?sort=MersenneNumber

And as usual with our conversations the thread just went off on a
tangent ( see we were talking about Maths, so I used a geometric pun ! )
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-March/001861.html

Gareth ended this all so well, with a enlightened comment about the
abuse use of scripting languages.
	http://bbspot.com/News/2000/6/php_suspend.html

This weeks rant was brought to you by the link
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-February/date.html
and the link
	http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2003-March/date.html
and was a production of the Childrens Television workshop.

So that was it really, we covered lots of ground, went off topic way
more than usual. We talked alot and read alot and linked out quite a
bit. We met, we shared Beers, Chips and Bread rolls. We planned a new
website and searched for the best way to pronounce ait.

Sorry theres no new competition this week. but lets see how thiss week
ends up!

-- 
nik at wired4life.org	http://www.wired4life.org/	Wired4Life, an Answer.

apt-get install julia sawhalla
 not enough room to install.