Ubuntu for Robots

Recently I started a new project called Ubuntu for Robots. It's a blog about how to make Ubuntu more user friendly and fun. If you are interested, go to ubuntuforrobots.blogspot.com.

At work I'm busy writing a program for the IP phones that lets you use the phones like an intercom system. It's a little bit frustrating because the documentation that comes with the phones is not well written, and the different models of phones seem to behave in different ways. It is nice to be doing some programming for a change instead of just working on IT stuff all the time.

I also wrote a program in Java that finds the fastest server in a list of mirrors. Ubuntu publishes a list of servers where you can download updates, and you're supposed to just pick the one that seems to work the best. My program contacts all of the servers and figures out which one will give you the fastest downloads. What's really cool about this program is that I made it multi-threaded, so it can be talking with multiple servers at the same time. This makes the program run about 20 times as fast as it otherwise would. It's the first multi-threaded program I've ever written, so I was happy I could get it to work.

For Memorial Day, Tara and I went to a park in Provo Canyon and had a barbecue and a campfire. It was really pretty there because the park is in a valley between some really tall tree-covered mountains, and there is a really clear stream that runs past it. We managed to get a picnic table with a barbecue and fire pit that was only 30 feet from the stream. The food was good and the fire was fun!

On Saturday we got our garden planted. It's a bit late because we had to clear and till the ground by hand. We planted lettuce, marigolds, onions, spinach, dill, tomatoes, beans, broccoli, and cauliflower. Today, only four days later, the spinach was already coming up. It's really fun to have a house instead of an apartment and be able to have a yard where we can do what we want.

Digg Rebellion

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of experiencing the Digg revolt. Digg.com is a website where the users submit and rate content. One user posted a key that cracks HD DVDs. Other users rated it highly, and it eventually made the front page of Digg. Digg subsequently received a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice from AACS. The Digg staff decided to remove the offending post to avoid legal retribution from the AACS, and eventually banned the user who posted it because of his repeat attempts to repost it. Users were angered that Digg complied with the DMCA takedown notice because they felt it violated their rights to free speech. The argument was that the key is just a number, one that took no creative input to come up with (all computer programs are just numbers, but there is a minimal requirement of creative input for it to be copywriteable), so it should not be censored from the website. Even if the DMCA covers such content, users felt that a more important law, namely the constitution, guaranteed their right to post a number. All content on Digg comes from user submissions, so censoring those users unfairly, at least from the users' point of view, is not necessarily a good idea.

Digg users revolted against the censorship and posted thousands of references to the number. Eventually, the entire front page of Digg was plastered in references to the key. Digg then issued a statement saying that they had overwhelmingly heard the users voice their opinion, and that they would allow the number to remain on the website and take on the AACS legally if it came to that.

This issue is really a deep one. It touches on several different sore spots in our legal system's relationship with digital media. Can a number be copyrighted? Should a huge company be allowed to crush a small company by pumping lawyers full of money, even if it is a miscarriage of justice? Can and should a website control user submitted content? Why are we allowing cartels (AACS, MPAA) to fix prices and attach arbitrary restrictions to content (DRM)? Why do special interests carry more weight than the voice of the people? Has America become a lawyer state? Why won't America uphold its own constitution?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I have a sneaking suspicion that greed is the primary reason why these companies do what they do, as well as being the reason that they can get away with it. I am proud of Digg and its users for choosing to stand up for what they believe in, even if it means they will be crushed.

Politics as usual

I've tried a couple of times to make an update, but each time I somehow get distracted in the middle of writing and never make a post.

Concerning the MSNBC presidential debates, my current favorite candidate is Ron Paul. He is a strong supporter of the original intent of the constitution, and he is opposed to the Patriot Act. He also wants to reduce or do away with the IRS and income tax. He also struck me as the only candidate who wasn't an actor, he was up there because he is genuinely interested in restoring America's constitutional values.

My second favorite would have to be Romney. He only gets this honor because he is LDS, which is a strong attribute in his favor. However, I understand that just because he is LDS doesn't necessarily make him the best person up there, and something about him strikes me as fake from time to time. He did reasonably well at answering the questions, but I'm still unclear where he stands on the issues.

As far as Democrats go, I don't really like any of them. If I had to pick the one that I dislike the least, it would have to be Obama, and I really hope he gets his party's nomination over some of the whackos like Clinton, Biden, Kucinich, and Gravel.

Well, enough for now. What do you think about the candidates?