Speakers for the main sessions of RailsConf 2008 are available now. A number of Columbus/Cincinnati Rubyists are showing: Jim Weirich, Joe O’Brien, Aaron Bedra, Dan Manges. I wish I could go. Oh well, maybe next year

On another note, Blip TV has a number of the keynotes from RailsConf 2007 online.

1. Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list as root. Change every occurrence of gutsy to hardy.
   sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
4. Check that Hardy was installed correctly
   sudo dpkg –configure -a
5. Reboot and Test the Upgrade
   sudo lsb_release -a

Hopefully, you should see something like

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 8.04
Release: 8.04
Codename: hardy


My friend, Keith, posted this video on his blog. I had to echo it, because it looks like a good find. The youtube video has 24 segments and is intended to be shared.

Please post your thoughts as comments. I’ll start this conversation with a question.

How can the world hope to continue sustaining life while thousands upon thousands of corporations each independently fulfill their own agendas by taking the world’s resources with no heed for the collective future outcome of the global community?

Here’s our first family photo of the four of us. Fantastic.

My co-workers at Chase frequently razz me about being a ‘hold-out’ Windows user. Why would I continue to use Windows when you could use a Mac or Ubuntu Linux. Incidentally, my laptop is set to dual-boot Windows XP and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. My standard answer is that I have too much software in the Windows platform for a full switch to a different platform. My other answer (oft unspoken) is that there is a learning curve (and I’m lazy).

My brother-in-law was asking me about what I thought about Macs the other day. Personally, I think they’re pretty cool. Steve Jobs and the gang has built a Marketing Machine around a simple aesthetic and a powerful platform, and he is going to win over the 20% on the outside of the technological bell curve. These people are both the new users who like what Macs look like and don’t have enough experience on Windows to lose experience points from their ‘learning Windows learning curve’ by having to learn a new OS. The other people that Jobs attracts are power users, in particular those who are involved in developing media–Designers and Programmers of different types.

Jobs will probably never get the middle of the market, the average business user, and therefore students will continue to use Windows, because they will eventually have to use it in the office someday. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that will not slow down for a really long time, unless Bill Gates does something really bad (perhaps another Windows Vista :).

So, it looks like I’ll be staying on a PC, and laughing at the Mac commercials for a long time, at least until I go from the top 85% to the top 90% of the user bell curve.

This morning I made my list of things wrong with my Windows installation. Recently, this list is:

1. Windows hangs and becomes unresponsive
2. On closing Windows, an error message comes up that I don’t recognize
3. Deleting files takes forever and sometimes crashes my system

I’ve got to figure out the first two, but I’ve figured out the last. Deleting a file would try to put the file in my recycling bin, but my recycling bin was a bit on the large size and needed to be emptied. After clearing it out, everything is running smooth. Now, I’ve got to fix the first two.

The Writer’s Strike of 2007-08 is finally over after 14 weeks. Whlie it’s frustrating that the current season of The Office was split in half like a two-by-four, or that 24 won’t be on until ‘09, I’m glad that the WGA did what they needed to do bring about some resolution to their situation. If you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, here’s the gist.

Mass-communication is paid for in advertising dollars. Newspapers, Radio, and TV all work the same way. Ratings are used to set the advertising rates which brings in revenue to the business. This pays for the operating expenses of production. With the rise of digital media, TV networks are now streaming more and more of their content. This means more cash for the networks for the same work of production. This brings a disparity because the Networks get more profit without compensating the Writers for their work on these new distribution channels. Residual income from secondary distributions are a necessary part of a writer’s income that is typically relied upon during periods of unemployment common in the writing industry.

To celebrate the increased equity towards the Writers, here’s Lazy Sunday, an SNL sketch that was viewed more than five million times at YouTube before being removed by NBC in February 2006. This clip is on Hulu, which pays the Network through advertising, and now the Network gives the Writer’s a cut too. Cheers!