The Liberator Reloaded

Mar

¡Viva la revolución de los bombones!

By tjvanwyk 0 Comments

Categories: Counter-Economics, Agorism, Black Markets, Economics, Strategy and Business

Brad Spangler will occasionally kick articles my way on Digg. Sometimes I get to them, sometimes I don’t. I’m glad I got around to reading this one - I had to mention this one in case nobody else because it’s so delightfully agorist: kids in Cali are making a bundle off the prohibition of sweets in the government indoctrination centers:

With candy sales banned on school campuses, sugar pushers are the latest trend at local schools. Backpacks are filled with Snickers and Twinkees for all sweet tooths willing to pay the price.

“It’s created a little underground economy, with businessmen selling everything from a pack of skittles to an energy drink,” said Jim Nason, principal at Hook Junior High School in Victorville.

This has become a lucrative business, Nason said, and those kids are walking around campus with upwards of $40 in their pockets and disrupting class to make a sale.

I love this story. Long live the black market. I hope the parents are proud of their little sugar pushers - shit, I hope the parents are the prime investors in the ventures.

The meaning of “Ubuntu”

By tjvanwyk 2 Comments

Categories: Linux, Ubuntu, Humor and Debian

I just saw this one on Urban Dictionary:

2. ubuntu
Ubuntu is an ancient [A]frican word, meaning “I can’t configure Debian”

I couldn’t resist sharing that one. It’s probably old and it probably derives from somewhere other than UD, but that’s the first time I’ve heard it. Touche!

Mar

Fresh theme - and a quasi-open post

By tjvanwyk 1 Comment

Categories: Administrative Stuff, Blogging, Windows, Software and Firefox & Plugins

Well, you know me. I get bored with themes after awhile and have to switch it up. So I’ve recently changed the themes on both my (active) blogs (here and there). Both, I think, are clean and readable. The theme here I went with because honestly you can’t go wrong with black on red, if you get my drift. The Linux blog got a facelift because I wanted a dead simple blog layout that didn’t have any weird “features” (one of the ones I found was perfect but had the stupid “feature” of making the italics appear bold - I’m too lazy and ignorant to change up the CSS).

Any thoughts on the themes?

Second, I’ve also been looking around for some good browser-independent blogging software because I think it helps the blogging “workflow.” Tried Drivel on Linux, and I like that other than some minor to moderate qualms. But I’m looking for a Windows blog editor that can handle Wordpress.

So, what about my readers and fellow bloggers? How do you blog? Standard browser-based interface built-in to wordpress (or blogger or whatever you use)? Plugins like ScribeFire? Or do any of you use fully browser-independent blogging software? Just looking for ideas. If you’re bored or otherwise inclined to post, I’d love to hear some ideas.

Mar

I forgot!

By tjvanwyk 0 Comments

Categories: Left Libertarian, Libertarian and Anarchism

A little late (on my part), but Brad Spangler reminds me that yesterday was the Ides of March.

Sic semper tyrannis, indeed!

Mar

Windows & WPA2

By tjvanwyk 1 Comment

Categories: Computers, Intellectual Property, Windows, DRM, Windows Genuine "Advantage", Networking and Security

Am I the only one who’s noticing that Windows totally chokes on WPA2?

The roommate approached me the other day saying that he feared somebody was trying to crack our wireless encryption because the router kept dropping off connection. Now, there’s a thousand and one things that could explain that, but I humored him because switching to WPA2 is something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. So, I decided to do it this morning. Figured it would be a half-hour job, at most. Made up a strong key, wired my laptop to the router so I could login to the admin for it and change the key.

Changed it to WPA2 Personal, AES+TKIP encryption.

To test, checked with my laptop - with Fedora 8 - to connect to it. Connects and authenticates without a hitch. Ping, check e-mail, etc. - full connectivity, LAN and WAN, no problem.

Went into my bedroom where my desktop is (with Windows at the moment). Found out I couldn’t connect to WPA2 networks with Windows, so I go back to the laptop and google how to get WPA2 support on Windows; seems you need a “hotfix” to get WPA2 support. No biggie - I sort of expected this anyway. Tried to download it on my Linux box to transport the .exe over to the desktop via a USB drive. No big deal, right?

Wrong! Good thing I’m not a network admin trying to upgrade several workstations to WPA2 wireless authentication after changing the wireless to WPA2. Seems this “hotfix” is “Windows Genuine [sic] Advantage [sic]” software. I needed an active connection on the Windows connection to download and install a rather small patch (the download took no more than a few seconds). The desktop is a full 30 feet or so from the wireless router, and I sure as hell wasn’t moving the desktop and all its peripherals close enough to the router to wire with standard Ethernet cable. So, to enable WPA2 support, I had to switch the encryption key back to WPA! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard since Attila died of a nosebleed.

So, I download this hotfix, install the (”Genuine [sic] Advantage [sic]”) .exe. XP at this point wants a reboot (shockingly). While that’s going on, I head back to the router and change the router to WPA2 again, and power-cycle the router for good measure. Again, the laptop with F8 has no problems connecting to the WPA2.

Finally Windows seems to connect fine to the WPA2 encryption. So, that done, I disconnect my laptop from the router and bring it back to my room. I’m about to send the hotfix .exe over to my server for longterm storage (so I don’t have to go through this again in the event of a reinstall).

Windows at this point can’t find the share on my Samba server. I open up Firefox to test some websites, and there’s no connectivity. I check to make sure the wireless hasn’t dropped off - but Windows reports the connection is “Excellent” (my laptop, through this, has not lost connectivity to the router since then). Finally, I say “screw it.” This wasn’t worth my time to continue troubleshooting. I didn’t even bother doing some pinging to see if I was getting any connectivity, but I doubt there was any. Windows was simply choking on WPA2 encryption.

So, here I sit, reverted back to WPA. I did change the key, switch to AES rather than TKIP (I understand the former is newer and better than the latter), and stop broadcasting the ESSID. Hopefully that will keep any miscreants busy for awhile - we’re pretty sure there’s a script kiddie in the neighborhood

That shouldn’t have taken me two hours to do, but after the WPA2 ring-around, that’s how long it took.

I fail to see how this Genuine Advantage bullshit that MS peddles on Windows users is in any way advantageous; I don’t know how many times I’ve been burned by it, and my MS software is all legit. Ironic how pirated MS software probably works better than “Genuine Advantage” software because you don’t need to deal with the “Genuine Advantage” BS; the people who pay for “their” “legitimate” copies of Microsoft Software are treated like children who can’t be trusted, while the pirates happily install and run whatever they damn well please. (Note that I in no way defend anybody’s claim to “intellectual property” - in fact, I’ve attacked IP plenty before as the BS it is.) DRM is so stupid in all forms.

Feb

Gag me with a ruling sceptre

By tjvanwyk 2 Comments

Categories: Left Libertarian, Indoctrination!, Libertarian, Anarchism, Random/Stupid, Agorism and Ron Paul

I know I’ve declared this blog to be a Ron Paul-free zone, but I have to vent.

I still get LRC updates in my inbox, and usually open them to see if there’s anything of interest, usually promptly closing it once I’ve got my daily fill of Ron Paul fanboyism from the “libertarians” (usually the little title page is enough Paul for the day). But I think this screenshot sums up the Paul/LRC fetish:

Until the inaugural? Are you $&@*#& #@! kidding me?

I didn’t follow the link. I couldn’t stomach that at the moment. So maybe it’s standard “I don’t want anybody in the White House but now that Ron Paul is running, I’ll reconsider voting for this guy so I get whipped less.” Maybe it’s not. I’ve heard the arguments out of libertarians concerning why one should consider voting “just this once.”

That’s all poppycock. These guys want somebody in the White House. The fanboyishness is beyond “this guy would be the best of the worst.” It’s statist infatuation. And it’s sickening to hear it from “libertarians.”

Rant over. Please return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Feb

A Brush with Virtual Machines

By tjvanwyk 1 Comment

Categories: Confessions of a Linux Turncoat, Linux, Computers, Windows and Virtualization

I can’t believe I’ve never tried this before. I’m currently typing this from a Windows XP virtual machine inside a Slackware 12 host using VirtualBox. This isn’t really news to most people, but it is something I have never tried. And I am thoroughly impressed so far.

I’ve been having problems lately with constantly needing to reboot my dual-booted desktop system, currently dual-booted with Slackware 12 and Windows XP. I recently first dipped into Slackware, and I’ve been liking it, but I’ve needed Windows for homework (one of my classes is heavy into Microsoft Office 2007 - before you groan, I’m actually pretty impressed with Office 2007). So, the Slack install hasn’t been getting much use these days, because I’ve been booted into Windows for class as of late.

I thought I’d try a virtualization solution. I downloaded VirtualBox maybe an hour ago, and here I am happily using a WinXP virtual machine. It’s been great so far, but I haven’t done that much heavy duty stuff with it yet.

Random thoughts in no particular order:

I seem to be limited to a virtualized 128MB video unit, and a 1024×768 resolution on the guest OS; the VM’s window looks pretty small compared to my native 1680×1050 resolution, but that’s okay. This should be workable for my purposes; the only thing I’m wondering about is running one of the only games I play - Counter-Strike Source, a fairly video intensive proposition.
I think I’m going to like the ease of backups - Virtual Box allows you to export a guest machine’s system state quite easily, from what I see.
Some of the little things are great - the keyboard key that allows you to “escape” the guest machine and manipulate the host GUI is one of them. The other is the nifty status icons in the bottom right corner of the VBox screen that alert you to device usage of the VM - see the attached screeny (from left to right, hard drive, optical drive(s), floppy drive, net connection, USB devices, and shared folders)
I may have imagined it, but I think the virtualized installation of Windows went faster than a traditional Windows install done by booting the Windows install disk from the BIOS.
On the other hand, it is definitely faster to reboot the virtual machine - partly because the process of rebooting a virtual machine doesn’t require going through the BIOS’s POST. I’ve never been good at estimation, but I think the time from clicking the restart button in the Windows VM to getting logged back into the VM is about 15-20 seconds, if that.
If I can pull this off - using the Virtual Machine to fill all my Windows needs - I may be able to avoid rebooting the host OS for weeks at a time.
If it works, I’ll be probably nuking the Windows XP partition on the hard drive that holds my operating systems (the faster one), and totally switching to Windows-via-virtualization.
One of my gripes with Windows as of late has been the pathetic state of Windows-based audio players. For Video, VLC works greats for my purposes, but I was really looking for (and not finding) a Windows equivalent of Amarok (I know there’s a possible port in the works). Now, I’m using my VM while using Amarok to play some tunes. It’s so cool because I’ve been so frustrated for so long by the lack of a good music player in Windows. Guess this just sidesteps that problem, but I don’t mind a workaround if it works for me.

Dual booting is great for some people, but for me, it isn’t really working anymore. It’s great for Linux newcomers, but I want to use Linux all the time and only find the need to use Windows much more sparingly. This may be the best of both worlds.

I may be investigating other virtualization solutions sometime soon, but VirtualBox looks great for now.

Update: should have looked into it before, but I’m guessing it’s going to be a no-go on CS:S. No support for direct hardware acceleration yet.

Jan

Passing this along…

By tjvanwyk 4 Comments

Categories: Left Libertarian, Property, Intellectual Property and RIAA

The website of the Recording Industry Association of America has been cracked and wiped. (It has since been restored.) I’ve got to agree with the first comment on the Slashdot page:

Normally I don’t advocate cracking someone’s site. It’s childish and petty. Kinda like the RIAA itself.

But, for some reason, I’m having a really hard time working up any real sense of moral outrage over it.

This probably makes me a bad, biased person.

C’est la vie!

I had the exact same thoughts upon hearing of this. As legitimate property can only be tied to legitimately possessed physical resources, in the past I’ve argued against intellectual property - including ownership of bits per se. Software is simply not something that can be legitimately owned - at least not in and of itself. Any software that I own is really the software/hardware combination - or, more accurately, the usage thereof.

The same goes for music, books, ideas, physical laws of the universe, and the like.

For instance, I recently set up a CIFS/Samba/FTP/SSH server (I might post some notes on the setup later) to serve files on a Windows workgroup. The old (by computer standards) desktop box I used to set up the server, I think, can rightfully be considered mine (my folks weren’t using it, so I asked my dad if I could have it). As far as I’m concerned, I do not own the data on it, but I do own the usage of the server - if somebody cracked it and wiped the hard drive, they wouldn’t be violating my “intellectual property rights” - I don’t own the bits, per se, after all is said and done. But the hypothetical cracker would be interfering in my normal use of the physical resource by maliciously harming the continuity of the implementation - and that would consist of a rights violation.

Are servers owned by the RIAA (or, in another category, government-”owned” servers) fair game for hacktivism? It does raise some interesting questions as to means-ends continuity with regard to strategy. To what degree is the use of hacktivism, in the name of anarchism, morally acceptable? I’m going to have think on that. But, like the Slashdotter mentions, I find it hard to muster any moral outrage in this situation. In fact, I’m vaguely amused.

So, I explained that I think it would be wrong for somebody to (say) crack my Samba server via SSH, gain root access, and then shred important files (say some miscreant shredded the entirety of the /etc/samba directory). How are servers owned by the RIAA different? To the extent that the RIAA may for many intents and purposes be considered a quasi-governmental agency, or an implementation of a cartel, or a creature of the State’s IP racket, (or any combination thereof) I find it hard to find the action of these crackers to be morally reprehensible.

(I am aware that these crackers may have done this for shits and giggles and may very well be morally neutered. In fact, I doubt the crackers sat down and intellectually discussed the morality of their actions.)

Considering that the RIAA’s monies come, I presume, from the illegitimate collection of intellectual property “royalties” - directly or indirectly (I’m not actually sure about the details of the financing of this particular cartel) - I consider the RIAA’s servers to be bought with dirty money and ultimately “fair game.” They bought those servers with dirty money, so I have a hard time defending a claim to ownership of any of the RIAA’s assets - including the use of their server implementation(s).

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As the author admits of no existing human right to strangle information through pretentious claims of ownership of written content (some folk call these "copyrights" and, indeed, copylefts), content of this blog remains unlicensed, as the written word (and code!) should be. However, the theme is has not been authored by your Humble Correspondent, and is probably licensed somehow (by its "owner"), an unfortunate fact about which the author may do nothing.