Orthogonal politics

My Mom just set up a Facebook profile! So I was looking through my profile, since I knew I had some pictures of the kids up there, and saw that my "Political Views" were listed as Liberal. Hunh. Not really accurate. But then, I have no idea how to classify my political views, since I am simultaneously:

• Strongly pro-first amendment - I support the ACLU, EFF, EPIC and other free-speech groups
• Strongly pro-second amendment - I support gun ownership, the rights to concealed carry and open carry firearms, and the duty of citizens to serve as the Militia of the United States; I oppose the Assault Weapons Ban and legislation prohibiting ownership of firearms

In fact, going through the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, following the changes from the 14th and 19th Amendments, I find the entire basis for my political views.

• Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: The Congress shall have Power ... To declare War
• Article I, Section 9, Clause 3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed
• Article I, Section 10, Clause 1: No State shall ... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts
• Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Just read it, if you haven't done so in a while. It seems strange that many more people know the preamble to the Constitution, but couldn't tell you that only Congress has the power to declare war.

Since neither the Democratic or Republican parties appear to represent and support these same principles, I cannot correctly be called a Democrat or a Republican. The modern labels of conservative and liberal are next to useless in describing my views on executive privilege, protection against centralized state power, fiat currency and the rights of individuals to protect themselves and their country.

So I am orthogonal to these labels. And that's fine.

.screenrc

This is my screenrc.

# xabbott /.screenrc
# this is messy as i just took random things from others. -.-
# from http://dotfiles.org/~xabbott/.screenrc

activity "%c activity -> %n%f %t"
autodetach on
altscreen on
bell "%c bell -> %n%f %t^G"
defflow auto
defscrollback 10000
defutf8 on
msgwait 2                 # 1 second messages
startup_message off        # disable the startup splash message
shell -bash
vbell_msg "[[[ ding ]]]"
vbell off
nethack on

term screen-256color
termcapinfo xterm*|Eterm|mlterm|rxvt 'hs:ts=\E]0;:fs=\007:ds=\E]0;screen\007'

hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{gk}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{=b kR}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{=b kR})%{= kw}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{Y}%l%{g}]%{=b C}[ %Y-%m-%d %c ]%{W}'


# remove some key bindings
bind k
bind W
bind ^k
bind .
bind ^\
bind \\
bind ^h
bind h
# make them safer
bind 'K' kill
bind 'W' windowlist

# F8 to turn the status bar off
bindkey -k k8 hardstatus alwayslastline
# F9 to turn the status bar on
bindkey -k k9 hardstatus alwaysignore
# F1 and F2 to move one screen forward or backward
bindkey -k k1 prev
bindkey -k k2 next

# eof

Practice Safe Computing!

Got a message on Facebook from my brother-in-law, who is diligently installing Office 2007 in a virtual machine on his MacBook for his online class this semester at NoVA:

ANYWAYS, i was wondering if you suggested any good (and free) antivirus/spyware/firewall software since i will now be plagued by windows. thanks for the help! hopefully this will give you something to do at work, instead of playing with sharpies.

I love Sharpies. :)

Don't bother downloading/installing firewall software, just make sure that Windows Firewall is turned on, and check the exceptions list to make sure there's nothing stupid in there. That's all that I do on my XP/Vista installs.

I use the free version of AVG Anti-Virus (the old 7.5 version, not the current 8.0 version). It's not quite as slick as McAfee or other commercial AV packages, but it works for me, and it's fairly light on resource utilization. It only uses about 10MB of memory, compared to over 100MB for McAfee AV, which definitely helps in virtual machines. You can download it from:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/4029/

Avast! antivirus Home Edition works well too, some folks prefer it to AVG. Also available for free from:

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

If you're a careful and conscientious PC user, and install a firewall or address-translating router (like a Linksys WRT54G) between your PC and the Internet, and browse with Firefox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript, and don't visit malicious sites, and don't download software you don't need or aren't familiar with, and keep your system patches + antivirus up to date, there's no real need to run anti-spyware/malware software. If you feel the need to burn memory and CPU cycles and disk time to defend yourself against malware, I'd recommend Windows Defender:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

It works, and isn't a complete and utter pig.

If you do find spyware or malware on your PC, AdAware still works for detection and removal. I know there's newer tools out there, but I haven't had issues with AdAware, so that's what I use.

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Good luck!

Favorite Firefox add-ons

Since I've been setting up Firefox and associated apps on my new work laptop, I thought I'd list my current set of favorite add-ons for Firefox 3.

I've used Firefox and some of these add-ons for years, and they help to make Firefox that much more useful and safe for day-to-day browsing. There are literally thousands of add-ons to choose from, so these represent the best and most useful of the ones available in my experience.

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.5: blocks ads, period. Modern replacement for Adblock + Filterset.G Updater.

Download Statusbar 0.9.6.3: makes it easier to track and manage multiple downloads, nicer interface than the download manager included with Firefox 3. Alternately, if you need to queue up and manage dozens or hundreds of downloads, use DownThemAll! 1.0.3 instead.

Video DownloadHelper 3.3: downloads videos from sites like YouTube for local use.

Feed Sidebar 3.1.4: the least annoying feed reader I've ever used. I love the idea of RSS/Atom feeds as a way to view and stay up to date with content, but Feed Sidebar is the first reader I've used in 3 or 4 years that I didn't delete after 2 weeks of use.

NoScript 1.8.3.6: protect your Firefox session from malicious code. Practice safe browsing! Firefox with AdBlock Plus and NoScript installed makes your browsing about as safe as you can get on the web these days.

QuickProxy 2008.08.04: gives you a statusbar button to turn proxy support on and off. Couple this with PuTTY or another SSH client configured for SOCKS5 connection forwarding to your desired SSH server, and you've got an instant VPN for your Firefox session.

I've used other add-ons over the years, including Better Gmail (improved Gmail interface tweaks), ChatZilla (IRC/chat client), FasterFox (speed tweaks), FireBug (monitor and debug CSS/HTML/Javascript code and page load time) FireFTP (full-featured FTP client), FlashBlock (blocks Adobe Flash applets), ForecastFox (weather forecasts), Foxmarks (bookmark synchronization), User Agent Switcher (change your browser's identity); and any list of Firefox add-ons needs to include the amazing GreaseMonkey.

Election 2008

"Politicians and diapers should be changed often, and for the same reason." - Mark Twain

Voted this morning at 7:06am at our polling station, and there were around 10 people ahead of me in line. I was impressed at the number of staffers on site, it looked like about twice the number that were there in 2006 and 2007. This isn't a huge district: there's 6 voting districts and 19 polling precincts in the county, serving around 70 thousand residents and perhaps 40 thousand registered voters.

Frederick County VA Polling Places

sbe.virginia.gov: Number of Precincts & Registered Voters by Counties & Cities within Congressional Districts - September 1, 2004

Heard from my mother-in-law this morning, she got to the polling station in Lake Ridge (eastern Prince William County VA) around 6:15am and didn't get through the line and out until 7:30am. My guess is that the suburban counties in Northern Virginia are going to get crushed by voter turnout today, so it'll be interesting to see what the Virginia SBE reports starting at 7:30pm this evening.

Georgia and Russia: Thursday 2008-08-21 updates

It's been quite a week, what with the cease-fire, a supposed Russian withdrawal, sacking of Georgian military bases, warships steaming to and fro, bridges blowing up, SS-21 launchers hitting the highway, threats against Poland, Abkhazian diplomatic maneuvering, pissing matches with NATO, Russian grandstanding and so forth. And despite the energy cards that Russia still holds in its hands, other NATO members are making the sorts of statements that allies tend to make.

Unsurprisingly, the Russian military is still very Russian. Yah, lots of infantry and armor in close-quarters combat, and vulnerable but effective aircraft in the sky. No, no UAVs or modern stand-off capability. But the Russian soldiers on the ground are a largely professional volunteer force, unlike the demoralized conscripts from the Chechen wars.

If Putin wants a new cold war, he has one. The real question is what else Russia is going to do, since Europe and the US are on the receiving end this time.

Georgia and Russia: Thursday 2008-08-14 updates

Washington Post: Russian Troops Hold Key Georgian City

The Russians aren't going back, and they aren't letting go.

Following the events of the past week, "One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Associated Press reported from Moscow. "It is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met Thursday with leaders of the separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and pledged to support them in discussions about the future of the two disputed regions.

"We will support any decision made by the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Medvedev said, following a meeting in which the separatist leaders signed the French cease-fire plan in Moscow.

BBC: US forces to deliver Georgia aid

And the US is going in.

President George W Bush has said the US will use military aircraft and naval forces to deliver aid to Georgia following its conflict with Russia.

exiledonline.com: Photo Essay: Russian Army in South Ossetia

from the new home of exile.ru:

No dramatic photo compositions here, just grim pictures of burnt-out tanks, spent RPGs, charred human remains and columns of Russian armored machinery on patrol in South Ossetia and Georgia.

Also check out their previous report on The CNN Effect: Georgia schools Russia in Information Warfare and The War Nerd's piece on South Ossetia, The War of My Dreams.

Coverage of Georgian situation

http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/

The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up shop on Blogspot.com following Russian hijacking of official Georgian websites, and is issuing press releases, official timelines of events, and schedules for conference calls and telephone briefings w/ Mikhail Saakashvili and the Georgian National Security Commission.

http://rbnexploit.blogspot.com/

Blog that tracks Russian Business Network (RBN) activity, now providing technical details on "cyberwarfare" conducted by Russians against Georgian targets. Attacks originating from Russia have hijacked Internet (BGP) routing to Georgian netblocks, taken Georgian DNS servers offline and have exploited and taken control of web servers utilized by the Georgian government.

Pedal on, Ben Dobbs

My Uncle Steve found a blog post from the Denver pedicabbing community on Ben. It's a touching read, and an insight into a part of his life he cared about deeply.

Other links:

Obituary: http://www.legacy.com/DenverPost/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=112400149

Online memorial and photo gallery: http://www.mem.com/Story.aspx?ID=2511802

RIP Benjamin Joel Dobbs 1979 - 2008

I just heard from my dad last night that my brother had passed away unexpectedly.

Rest in peace, Ben.

NYT on Vista

So my dad emailed me about the New York Times article (They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.) on Microsoft Windows Vista, and I had to write back:

There were some fascinating bits covered by Slashdot about the "Windows Vista Capable" labeling, and how Intel pushed for its i915 graphics chipset to be labeled by Microsoft as "Vista Capable" even though it obviously couldn't run the Aero interface, which led in part to the current lawsuit and resulting mess with Microsoft's marketing and product labeling.

I think it's hilarious that this has since made it to the New York Times. :)

• Microsoft Had Doubts About the 'Vista Capable' Label February 12 2008
• Microsoft Internal Emails Show Dismay With Vista February 28 2008

I think ultimately the MS product managers gave into the urge to Ship Something Now rather than fix the known issues with Vista and wait for another 6 to 12 months for greater driver availability from hardware vendors. As it is, both the techie and public perception of Vista (regardless of technical merits or the facts) is the worst for any consumer operating system since Windows ME.

MS should essentially give up and cut its losses on Vista. It needs to release Vista SP1 once it's thoroughly tested and vetted, and then fork off their current Windows 7 development branch to release an incrementally improved version of Windows as soon as feasible to sell something other than Vista.

This also illustrates the project management and business problems with long development cycles. Microsoft has become wedded to the idea of expensive, major OS releases at infrequent multi-year intervals, as opposed to Apple's almost yearly Mac OS X releases or Canonical's twice-yearly releases of Ubuntu Linux with periodic long-term supported releases that get bugfixes and security patches for at least 3 years.

I think that more than any particular competitor, Microsoft's greatest challenge is its own development practices. If any $50bn commercial software company can turn itself around, it's Microsoft, but they need to admit and fix their mistakes.

GeForce 8x00 Series Comparison

As part of a semi-annual graphics card roundup, I'm going to analyze the state of the PC gaming market for current-generation nVidia PC video cards.

Introduction

If you want an nVidia card for PC gaming (as opposed to an ATI card), then you really need one of the new 8x00 series cards. They offer DirectX 10 support and a unified stream processing architecture which integrates previously separate vertex and pixel shaders and adds geometry processing as well. If the preceeding sentence means nothing to you, these are the latest and greatest technological advances in software and hardware for gaming video cards. (See nVidia's 8800 FAQ and 8800GT FAQ for basic information on these cards.)

However, if you haven't followed the gaming hardware market closely, it can hard to figure out what you need. There's a variety of 8x00 series cards available, ranging from the budget 8400GS to the mid-range 8600GT and 8600GTS, the upper range 8800GT and 8800GTS and the luxury 8800GTX cards. For the purposes of this comparison, I'm assuming you're not going to drop more than $350 on a video card, which excludes the 8800GTX from this list.

I'm also looking at single graphics cards here; most 8600 and higher cards support SLI mode, where you can use at least 2 graphics cards simultaneously to dramatically improve your graphics performance. You need both a motherboard and a power supply that support this feature in order to use it, so if you haven't built or purchased a system with this in mind, you likely won't be able to take advantage of this feature.

The cards below are all PCI Express x16 or PCI Express 2.0 (three of the 8800 series) so you need to have a motherboard with appropriate PCI Express support and open slots. If you still have an AGP-based motherboard (this is most likely the case if your motherboard is over 4 years old), it's time to upgrade and buy a new one if you're looking to buy a current graphics card. While there are AGP-based GeForce 7-series and Radeon HD 2000-series cards on the market, there are no AGP-based GeForce 8-series cards yet available.

I'm a big Newegg fan and have happily bought computing gear from them for years; so while you may prefer to buy your hardware from somewhere else, I've quoted Newegg's current prices (including rebates and standard 3-day shipping costs) and provided links to their product pages for the items below.

I've also listed primarily EVGA graphics cards below. Again, I've happily bought and used many of their boards in the past, so this reflects my personal preference. In specific cases, other manufacturer's cards are listed, but in my experience, EVGA has made solid, reliable graphics cards over the past decade.

Price Points

While there's a huge variety of cards and options available, I always like to know what I can get for a given dollar amount. With that in mind, let's look at the major price points right now:

• $325 = 8800GTS G92 512MB
• $275 = 8800GT 512MB
• $200 = 8800GTS 320MB
• $150 = Asus Silent 8600GTS 256MB
• $125 = 8600GTS 256MB
• under $100 = 8600GT 256MB

I've highlighted the cards corresponding to these price points in bold on the chart below.

For $325, you can get a very nice new 8800GTS G92 card with 512MB. While it uses 256-bit memory access compared to other 8800GTS which can use 320-bit memory access, this doesn't appear to have much effect in real-world performance. Having 128 stream processors compared to the 96 available on older 8800GTS cards does make a big difference, though. The G92 GPU is a significant improvement over the older G80 GPUs used in previous 8800GTS cards, so this is an obvious choice for high performance at a non-luxury price.

If you need to spend less than $300, the 8800GT 512MB cards like the EVGA listed below are a good deal. The clock speeds are slightly slower than newer 8x00 cards, but with 112 stream processors onboard, it can chew through pixels all day long. These are the heavy hitters at the upper end of nVidia's lineup on our price scale. While the 8800GTS G92 can be a better deal for the money, the 8800GT 512MB boards are still solid graphics cards for the money.

At $200, the 8800GTS G80 320MB cards are an excellent buy. For over a third less than the 512MB or 640MB 8800 cards, you can buy a very capable board. If you're running your games at 1680x1050 or lower resolution, you can get the same performance as the 640MB cards for a lot cheaper.

At $150, the ASUS Silent 8600GTS 256MB stands out. It can run completely silently without the need for fans or active cooling, which make this an excellent choice for home theater or small form factor PCs, or anyone who cares about their power bill.

At $125, other 8600GTS 256MB cards are a good buy. These can run most current games at acceptable quality and mid-range resolutions (1280x1024). Most of these will run hot, so be aware of the need for extra cooling and good airflow in and around your PC.

For under $100, 8600GT 256MB cards are the entry level for anyone who enjoys modern gaming. These can easily handle older games like World of Warcraft if the rest of your system is up to par, but will not run current demanding titles like Bioshock and Crysis well, if at all. A good 8600GT can get close to 8600GTS cards in performance, and it still sports 32 stream processors and a 128-bit memory interface, so it is significantly better than any 8400 series card.

Comparison Table

		Cost	GPU	Core clock	SPs*	Memory
	Card					clock	size	type
	EVGA 640-P2-N829-A3	$342	8800GTS G80	576Mhz	96	1800Mhz	640MB	320-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3	$327	8800GTS G92	670Mhz	128	1940Mhz	512MB	256-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 640-P2-N828-A3	$315	8800GTS G80	540Mhz	96	1700Mhz	640MB	320-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR	$276	8800GT	650Mhz	112	1900Mhz	512MB	256-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR	$257	8800GT	600Mhz	112	1800Mhz	512MB	256-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR	$200	8800GTS G80	500Mhz	96	1600Mhz	320MB	320-bit GDDR3
	ASUS Silent EN8600GTS	$147	8600GTS	675Mhz	32	2000Mhz	256MB	128-bit GDDR3
	MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC	$127	8600GTS	700Mhz	32	2100Mhz	256MB	128-bit GDDR3
	BFG GE86256GTOCFE	$110	8600GT	565Mhz	32	1400Mhz	256MB	128-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR	$96	8600GT	684Mhz	32	1620Mhz	256MB	128-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR	$80	8600GT	540Mhz	32	1400Mhz	256MB	128-bit GDDR3
	EVGA 256-P2-N732-LR	$36	8400GS	450Mhz	16	800Mhz	256MB	64-bit GDDR2

* = Stream Processors (unified geometry/vertex/pixel shaders)


I've also listed the 8400GS above for comparison. Since it has half the stream processors, slower clock and memory speed, a 64-bit memory interface and uses slower GDDR2 memory, this should only be a choice for people who Just Need A Cheap Graphics Card. If you play any amount of non-casual games, you're better off going with a cheap 8600GT instead.

Dirty Vegas at Sheetz, one night only

So yesterday I was in the Sheetz off of Route 50 near the Loudoun - Fairfax county line, the one on Poland Road, stopping to fill up on gas like I normally do. I get out of the car, and while I'm swiping my credit card on the pump, I hear what sounds like a Dirty Vegas track. Huh, interesting. I must have got that album about 5 years ago, listened to it for a couple months, then completely forgot about it.

I go in to use the men's room, and this guy comes in to wash his hands. He has long shoulder-length dirty blond hair, and he's singing along to the track. "Days go bayyy-yeee..." And then he keeps going. "My hair's so long, I don't know what I'd do... Like Ozzy Osbourne, aye really want to meet yoo-ooou." Ha! I can't even remember the last time I heard anyone singing in a men's restroom.

Guess the guy's an employee since he had an official Sheetz hat and said bye to the staff as he went out. Wonder if he'll be playing again sometime soon.

upgraded blog layout

so I stopped being lazy and upgraded the blog to use the new "layouts" instead of the old "templates" system on blogger.com. looks purty, or something.

Free + open-source software I use

After reading Lifehacker for a while, I started thinking about the software I use every day. I've been trying to better organize my files, downloads and apps, and it'd be handy to have a list of what I actually use and where to download it. I primarily use free or open-source software on Windows XP, both because it works well, and because it's freely available and I can download the apps anywhere, anytime I have Internet access.

I've organized the software by how often I use it - daily, frequently or infrequently. I've also included other standard programs like antivirus/security, office software and runtime libraries (.NET and Java).

Since it can take a lot of time to go through and google for an app, visit the site, find the download section and find the current version to download for thirty-some apps, I've included links to the download pages and the current version of the app, as of today, Friday November 30th 2007.

Linked downloads (second link) are EXE installers for Windows XP in English from North American servers. If that doesn't work for you, click on the download page (first link) and select what you do want.

Daily

• Firefox 2.0.0.10 Web browser

• iTunes 7.5 Media organizer and player

• KeePass 1.0.9 Password management

• Last.fm 1.3.2 Share your musical tastes and get recommendations

• Notepad++ 4.6 Text editor

• Pidgin 2.3.0 IM/chat client

• PuTTY 0.60 SSH/Telnet client

• Samurize 1.64.3 Desktop performance monitor/eyecandy

• SpeedFan 4.33 PC hardware monitor (no direct download link as requested by site maintainer)

• SyncBack Freeware 3.2.14 Backup files with profiles and schedules

• TreeSize Free 2.1 Show and sort disk usage by directory

• TrueCrypt 4.3a On-the-fly volume-based encryption (no direct download link as requested by site maintainer)
  

Frequently

• 7zip 4.42 Compression/archiving tool, understands popular formats (.zip, .rar, .tar.gz, .bz2)

• Google Gears Offline access to websites (still in beta)

• ImgBurn 2.3.2.0 Burn/edit/create CDs + DVDs

• InfraRecorder 0.44 Burn/edit/create CDs + DVDs, more user friendly (like Nero)

• Paint.NET 3.10 Image and photo editing (like Photoshop Elements)

• PDFCreator 0.9.3 Ghostscript Print any document to a PDF

• WinSCP 4.0.5 SCP/FTP client

• XnView 1.91.6 Complete Multi-Language Image viewer, converter and basic editor

Infrequently

• AutoHotKey 1.0.47.05 Windows and application automation via hotkeys

• AutoIt 3.2.10.0 Windows and application automation, scripting language

• DriveImage XML 1.2.1 Live system backup (like Acronis TrueImage or Symantec Ghost)

• DVD43 4.0.0 DVD decrypter

• Explore2FS 1.07 View files in Linux ext2/ext3 filesystems from Windows

• Handbrake 2.41 DVD -> MP4 converter (convert your DVDs for your iPod)

• HTTrack 3.42 Website copier for offline use

• K-Lite Codec Pack 3.5.3 Audio/video/compression codecs for MP3, MP4, DivX, QuickTime and many others, includes alternative media players like Media Player Classic

• NetStumbler 0.4.0 Wireless traffic analyzer/monitor/snooper

• PC Wizard 2008 1.81 Get details on your PC system info (like SiSoft Sandra)

• SharePod 3.6.2 Lightweight music management app for iPod

• Sumatra PDF 0.7 Lightweight PDF viewer

• Uptime NT 1.01 Show system uptime in Windows NT/2K/XP (command line)

• uTorrent 1.7.5 Small and featureful BitTorrent client

• VLC 0.8.6c Media player

• WinImage 8.1.0 Read and write disk images to/from floppy, CD, DVD (30-day shareware)

• winMd5Sum 1.0.1 Get/check MD5 checksums for files
  

• WinMTR 0.8 Network diagnostic/tracing tool, combines ping + traceroute

• Wireshark 0.99.6a Network analyzer/monitor/snooper

• X-Chat 2.8.4-1 IRC chat client

• YamiPod 1.7 Manage your iPod from your iPod

Antivirus/security

• Ad-Aware 2007 Free 7.0.2.5 Anti-spyware

• avast! 4 Home 4.7.1043 Anti-virus

• AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5.503 Anti-virus

Office software

• AbiWord 2.4.6 Lightweight word processor

• Gnumeric 1.6.3 build 2 Lightweight spreadsheet
  

• OpenOffice 2.3.0 with JRE, 2.3.0 without JRE Full open-source office suite, requires Java JRE
  

Runtime libraries
I've listed older versions as well since some apps (specifically system admin or backup software) require a specific older version. If you're not sure what you need, get the most recent version.

• Dot Net Runtime 3.5, 2.0 required for Paint.NET and other .NET applications

• Sun Java JRE 1.6.0_3, 1.5.0_14, 1.4.2_16

Let me know if you find this useful or have suggestions for the list.

Internet Explorer for OS X

ies4osx is a convenient way to run Internet Explorer natively on Mac OS X, without having to pull up Parallels or reboot into Windows with Boot Camp. Lifehacker (which is now one of my favorite sites) posted it this morning at Run Internet Explorer on Your Mac with ies4osx.

I haven't used this package on the Mac, but it's derived from the latest version of the IEs4Linux package which lets you run Internet Explorer natively on Linux. I've used IEs4Linux on Ubuntu Linux 6.10 and 7.04 and it really works rather well.

It's particularly handy for accessing financial and corporate sites that require IE for their functionality. That's less of a problem now than it was 2 or 3 years ago, thanks to the continued growing popularity of Firefox and Safari.

qotd

"The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." - George Orwell, ''In Front of Your Nose", 1946

Wikipedia articles on the Congo

Jessica has been reading through The Poisonwood Bible, which touches upon Patrice Lumumba and the Congo Crisis at the end, so I tracked down these Wikipedia articles on the Congo and Leopold II and Congolese independence for her:

Leopold II of Belgium: 1835-1909, son of Leopold I of Belgium, who married Princess Charlotte and arranged then-Princess Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert.

Congo Free State: Leopold II's private state in the Congo, 1885-1908; now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

King Leopold's Soliloquy: 1905 satirical pamphlet by Mark Twain criticizing Leopold II's actions in the Congo, in which the King supposedly argues that bringing Christianity to the country outweighs a little starvation (text available from American Museum of Natural History).

Force Publique: private army used by Leopold II to govern the Congo Free State and enforce production quotas; evolved into local colonial army after Belgian takeover of the Congo in 1908; nationalized and Africanized by Patrice Lumumba in 1960, deeply involved in the Congo Crisis, which led to Joseph Mobutu seizing power in 1965; Mobuto's overthrow led to the First Congo War from 1996-1997 and the resulting tensions then led to the Second Congo War from 1998-2003.

update 1018h:

King Leopold's Ghost: book published in 1999 (made into a documentary in 2006) which details the history of the Congo Free State, and mentions the roles played by George Washington Williams, who coined the term "crimes against humanity", William Henry Sheppard, E. D. Morel, Sir Roger Casement and Joseph Conrad in reporting, documenting and publicizing the atrocities carried out by Leopold II in the Congo.

not so zoho

You know the nice things I wrote yesterday about ZoHo? I take most of them back.

Their word processing app is fairly decent, but their wiki and creator products really aren't that good. The wiki support page is full of unanswered questions dating back nearly a year, the database creator is agonizingly frustrating to use if you trying to do anything non-drool-inducing (like add a formula to calculate someone's current age given their birthday), and the docs are double-plus-ungood.

Microsoft's got nothing to worry about there.

online + offline web apps

Lifehacker has an interesting bit about Zoho Writer adding full offline access with Google Gears. I hadn't looked at Zoho before, but they have an excellent suite of web apps, and if you take the minute or so required to install Gears, then you can take your word processing docs offline, edit them (can't add images offline, but text + formatting works fine) and then sync up the changes once you go back online.

This is really cool, for laptop-using humans, or if you have crappy 'net connectivity and still need to work on stuff.

One really interesting part of Zoho's suite is their Creator app for online databases. Imagine being able to set up MS Access-style database apps, online, in just a few minutes. This is the sort of thing that should make Microsoft really, really worried. You don't need MS Office, Windows Server, IIS, VB or ActiveX controls... just this online app that takes 30 seconds to sign up, and 5 minutes to build a basic address book app. Or a recipe catalog. Or an inventory system.