Recent Posts

6251

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2012, 10:51 AM »

Hey Renegade,

It looks like I'm late to the party.  Good luck with your transition.

Just some thoughts in case they come in handy...
1) OpenSuSE is a pretty solid distro.  It has it's ism's, but YaST makes it a pretty strong player for a new convert.
2) Centos is RedHat.  So is Scientific Linux.  This is important as a LOT of server apps are built for RH.  99% of them can run on SuSE. It just seems that a lot of documentation assumes RedHat and so you sometimes have to translate and adjust slightly.
3) Centos/SciLinux/RedHat do not have a direct YaST replacement.  You can install something like WebMin to take up the slack.  It's really only good for 1 at a time systems, but that probably covers your need.
4) Fedora is not RedHat.  I wouldn't use it for a server.
5) Damn near everything in can be configured in a plain text file somewhere.  Most of the system stuff live in /etc. 
6) Learn the basics of vi.  It's always available and very handy for quick file edits.
7) Do use LVM for partitioning your disks.  Nothing says cool like adding a new hard drive into your existing FS structure.
EXT4 or BTRFS.  EXT4 if you want solid tools.  BTRFS if you want cutting edge. (BTRFS has it's on LVM built in... cool)

PM me if you get really stuck. I can usually find someone who knows the answer   

-Rover (January 12, 2012, 09:37 AM)

WOW! Thanks!

You've hit on a few things that I was wondering about already, and other points that I wouldn't really know to ask.

As for vi... sigh... Yeah... Learned it a long long time ago, used it for a bit a few years ago, and know that I'll need to use it again... It's good when you get used to it, but it's very easy to fall out of practice with it!

And thanks for that comment on Fedora -- I was wondering about it as it seems like everyone offers it as an option.

At the moment, I'm very strongly leaning towards SuSe, and your comment on OpenSuSe has me perked about that. I'll need to have a peek on it.

Thank again!

6252

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 12, 2012, 08:36 AM »

Well, server 1 has sites transferred over to server 2, and now backing up things, so I'm closing in on being able to free up funds from 1 server to get onto a LAMP stack.

(Getting a bit excited about the big move! )

@wrait808

It's problematic in that a single article or two won't have the "smoking guns". But that's to be expected.

But look at it this way... they're fucking with nature in fundamental and primal ways, and they are NOT testing these monstrosities to find out if they are safe or not -- they're just releasing them on people. These people have infiltrated the FDA with yes-men. (You can verify that -- I've checked.)

They don't understand what they are doing, and they expect us to believe that it's safe? Huh? These are the same fucking people that ran Auschwitz! Like WTF?!? Dr. Mengele at the helm and we're supposed to believe them?

That's just the beginnings of the horrors. There are many more. Force sterilizations. Chemical experiments on unwilling subjects. etc. etc. etc. You can find this stuff in both the mainstream and alternative media.

I'd rather play safe than sorry. What they're doing is simply far too dangerous, even if they have good intentions, which at this point, I don't believe.

6253

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2012, 11:46 PM »

Still in the process of migrating sites & whatnot over to one server...

Put on tinfoil hat - here's one reference to questions/comments from above

http://www.psfk.com/...-term-sterility.html

6254

Living Room / Re: Do things feel different today than in other decades?

« Last post by Renegade on January 11, 2012, 07:24 PM »

Different?

Well... Let's see...

When I was a kid in the 1980's, I read books like:

• Fahrenheit 451
  
• Brave New World
  
• 1984

Today, I read the EXACT SAME STORIES in the news and watch them on Youtube:

Different?

Yes.

In the 1980's I thought that those books were tales about lessons we had learned, and stories about things that we would never see come true because we'd already learned those lessons.

Today, they are a reality.

So, yeah. Things are different. Where I used to think that the boogey-man and monsters were just stories, I've since learned that they are very real. And the horror stories that I thought were just "stories", are all being played out right now.

6255

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2012, 10:23 PM »

I'm at Softlayer. They do dedicated servers, so... Not sure... I have to move to get a VPS.

At the moment, I'm working on moving everything on one server to another just to consolidate them. That way I can drop the old server, and save on those costs. Then get a VPS (or another server) and move everything from the other server there.

-Renegade (January 10, 2012, 12:34 AM)

At liquidweb, they have both.  And they have what's called smartservers, which is what I'm using for one right now (some places have the same thing under a different name).  But what it does is let you apportion servers whenever you want, and they charge you a rate per day- it comes out to the same thing that I had for a month in the end, so they're just pro-rating the amount.  The advantage from what I was told was that unlike the regular VPS they used to use, this guarantees the processor time and RAM.  I'm really happy with them.

http://www.liquidweb...rtServers/index.html

As for the other, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.  The purchases weren't hidden, which I'm sure if it were as diabolical as some think, it would have been (and could have easily been).

I did have to add one question...

-wraith808 (January 10, 2012, 10:43 AM)

Thanks for the link there. I'll look into it.

Question on built in toxins

I've seen the answer in several sources, but to be honest, I've been going through so many materials so quickly for so long, that I totally forget where the references are now.

However, here's a quick simple reference:

www . dowagro.com/herculex/about/heruclexxtra/ < Please check that site - I don't want to give it any link juice.

On there, you'll read:

"You get high-yielding genetics and the only in-plant insect protection against:"

Translating that into reality... "in-plant insect protection" and "genetics" means that the plant is genetically engineered to produce toxins to kill insects.

Let me say that again...


The plant itself produces toxins to kill insects.


That is, the plant itself is toxic. It produces poisons in a frankenstein-natural sort of way. The plant's toxins kill insects. It's like eating pesticide. No, sorry... It's not "like" eating pesticide - it IS eating pesticide.

That link above is part of the whole Monsanto thing. There are many more just like it.

Some of the Monsanto technologies come from Bayer... an offshoot of IG Farben, who were your friendly neighbourhood Auschwitz company.

If I were to be completely cynical, I'd say (FAIR WARNING - to read - highlight from here) they're trying to put the gas chambers in the food itself (over to here).

But all that is just the beginning. It only goes downhill from there.

I hope that one example is enough to illustrate that I'm not completely insane.

@Eóin

There is a fundamental difference between poisoning people and trying to make people sterile, and trying to limit population growth through ethical means.

I don't want to get into that debate there, but I think I've made my position on the topic sufficiently clear. There are ethical ways to do things, and evil ways to do things.

6256

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 10, 2012, 12:34 AM »

Not that I can speak from experience per se, but I do suggest the VPS option if you don't use your own server(s) to their fullest.  It can be significantly cheaper than owning your own server, and is often backed up by enterprise features you couldn't afford with your own server.  Things like automated backup, failover, clustering (potentially), etc.  Yes, most charge extra for those features, but not a lot compared to the costs and hassles of doing it yourself.  Specific companies, however, I cannot recommend due to lack of experience with any of them.

As for the email server, I have heard a lot of good things from Open-Exchange.  Don't know anything about it from an admin standpoint other than that hearsay, but I can say it is functional enough from the client end (My ISP uses it).  It isn't great, but I don't know many/any that are anywhere near Exchange in features/compatibility/stability.  Two of the three, yes, but not all three.

Server OS?  I am partial to Debian, but that is only because I really like Mint Linux and the LMDE release.  Yes, this is designed as a desktop edition, but keeping the desktop and the Server the same base OS does make some things marginally easier.  Otherwise I have been told by many that SUSE is by far the easiest for most people to learn coming from Windows Servers.  CentOS is also quite popular and I use it at work everyday (as a user, not an admin) - it is also quite functional.  The one thing I learned with Linux is don't worry too much about the flavor, just choose a popular one and dive in.  You can figure it out and learn as you go.  By and large, the changes are in the shell and not the OS itself anyway, which makes them relatively easy to rip and replace as needed.

Lastly CMS.  Can't say.  My only suggestion here is WordPress is the biggest general purpose CMS deployed (measured by number of deployments).  There has to be a reason for that...I will leave it to your own research and conclusions as to why, but that is why I would start there.

-steeladept (January 09, 2012, 05:43 PM)

Hmmm... open-xchange doesn't have any prices listed when I click the BUY link. Must be out of my price range then.

I've heard that about Linux - just do it. Interesting what you mention about SuSe. I'm somewhat drawn to it as they have Mono with it, which would make my life easier as I know C# extremely well, and that would make life a lot easier for some things.

I have been using VPS with CentOS and LAMP for the last year and had no problems with that setup. Some configuration was needed in the beginning to get the latest PHP and some additional packages, but I managed to do that and I am not a Linux guy, so it is that difficult.

I am also using google to handle email for the domain. All I needed were a few mailboxes that just archive and forward emails. For this task, google mail works OK.

Regarding the open source CMSs, I am not a big fan of those. I played with wordpress and drupal, but they did not fulfill my expectations. My wordpress blog got hacked after not updating it for a while (who wants to update things all the time?). My wordpress blog and my drupal site are almost invisible and they still get tons of automated spam. Also, because of the complexity of wordpress and drupal, I do not have the feeling I am in control. The systems are too complex and too much time is needed to learn to customize them and to eventually do some plug-ins. Still, if you do not want to make a custom CMS, wordpress is probably the way to go, but be prepared for the spam.

-vlastimil (January 09, 2012, 06:15 PM)

I absolutely do not want a custom CMS. I want something out of the box that is flexible and well known. That way, I can perhaps just hire someone at some point to take care of things if I need. Custom? Nope. The learning curve is simply too expensive.

Hmmmm

“The world today has 6.8 billion people… that’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.”
Spoken like a true eugenicist!  He wants to kill 15% of the global population through vaccines.  His Foundation has already been responsible for forced vaccinations at gunpoint, so I suppose this isn’t any new surprise.

-http://www.truthistreason.net/bill-gates-foundation-buys-500000-shares-of-biotech-terrorist-monsanto

Well that source clearly has zero credibility or reason. Not a good start for the anti-bill side

-Eóin (January 09, 2012, 06:31 AM)

I agree entirely.

The rethorics used by that site gives it zero credibility in my eyes. They don't list decent sources, and spin a lot of crap on hear-say... there might be valid points hidden there, but it drowns in the tinfoil hat insanity. I have no doubts that monsanto are pure evil, it's easy reaching that conclusion by seeing how they act as a corporation. But equating biotech with "bio terrorism"? Come on, I expected you to be a bit more intelligent than falling for that.

There's plenty of reasons to be wary of biotech, but some of the sites you link seem like fanatical nutters. Makes me sick.

-f0dder (January 09, 2012, 06:46 PM)

Well, I'd just say that I'm willing to bet that if you put in the time to do the background due diligence checks, then it wouldn't sound like tinfoil hat insanity. But yeah... If you haven't checked into things, it comes off quite nutty.

It's important to check facts because pretty much every source out there tends to freak out a bit and exaggerate. e.g. Fox News recently reported some flat out lies about Jesse Ventura. They never did any fact checking, which is pretty irresponsible journalism for a major network (or very good propaganda -- depends on how you want to view it). (See in the spoiler for another example.)

More off-topic, or at least off the tech topic

Regarding killing 10~15%, well, that's a misrepresentation -- which is why I say do the due diligence -- and what Gate is actually saying is that he wants to reduce the growth of human population. You can view the video on Ted.com. So, that's an exaggeration. Albeit, less of a sin than the complete lies you might get on Fox, but still a sin.

As for equating bio-tech with bio-terrorism - it is. Rats and other test animals that are fed those bio-weapons go sterile in 3 generations. But don't take my word for it. Go out, check the facts from different sources, do the due diligence in verifying as much as you can.

Perhaps you're feeling sick because of GMOs? (Sorry -- couldn't resist that one -- it was way too open~! )

I totally understand why you'd feel that way. I used to think the same. I thought the whole organic food thing and all that stuff was just marketing drivel and stoned hippies blabbering on about Gaia and whatever.

I just got interested in the topic, and started looking into it more and more. After checking as much as I could and verifying as much as I could, I was unable to escape from the conclusion that GMOs are biological weapons. They're simply that bad.

Remember... These things are specifically and intentionally designed to produce toxins/poisons. That's not spin. That's what you'll get from looking at the company's literature. From there on in, at every turn, it only gets worse.

I don't expect you to believe me. I can only hope that you'd look into it for yourself. I'm willing to bet that at some point you'd likely reach much the same or similar conclusions as I have.

• New host
  

-Renegade (January 08, 2012, 11:42 PM)

Where are you hosting now?  Are they a windows only shop?  And how fast are you looking at moving?

I ask because I host a windows and a centos server on liquidweb.com.  They're good, very helpful, and the cool thing about it is that I'm not locked into either/or.

-wraith808 (January 09, 2012, 07:53 PM)

I'm at Softlayer. They do dedicated servers, so... Not sure... I have to move to get a VPS.

At the moment, I'm working on moving everything on one server to another just to consolidate them. That way I can drop the old server, and save on those costs. Then get a VPS (or another server) and move everything from the other server there.

6257

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 09, 2012, 10:06 AM »

Just to add something else to think about: this article on Nginx. 

-40hz (January 09, 2012, 08:43 AM)

I was reading on Nginx earlier today. My thoughts were either Nginx or Apache, but I really don't know enough about running different CMSes on top of them to make an intelligent decision.

I'm leaning towards Drupal... but really have no clue -- need to do a lot more reading still.

6258

Developer's Corner / Re: Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 09, 2012, 08:15 AM »

Hmmmm

“The world today has 6.8 billion people… that’s headed up to about 9 billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.”
Spoken like a true eugenicist!  He wants to kill 15% of the global population through vaccines.  His Foundation has already been responsible for forced vaccinations at gunpoint, so I suppose this isn’t any new surprise.

-http://www.truthistreason.net/bill-gates-foundation-buys-500000-shares-of-biotech-terrorist-monsanto

Well that source clearly has zero credibility or reason. Not a good start for the anti-bill side

[edit]Also oops didn't realise this thread was more for the technical advice so I'll stop dragging it OT? Sorry

-Eóin (January 09, 2012, 06:31 AM)

OT Diversion/Indulgence:

Unfortunately, that site is pretty accurate. It really only sounds utterly insane until you actually do the due diligence and read up on the plethora of references. THEN, and only then will things start to make sense.

I'd seen that Ted.com video before, and read that stuff before... I put it aside and was willing to "ignore" it because "Bill's a good guy and a philanthropist". We all know that I've been very pro Microsoft and pro Bill Gates. However, In the past few weeks I've also been doing some research on eugenics (not something that I particularly want to get into here or anywhere -- it's repulsive) and, well, let's just leave that alone entirely.

I've probably done too much research on Monsanto as well. They are utter evil. I've posted what I think their products are here:

http://cynic.me/2012...-them-what-they-are/

When you search and type in "monsanto", you will get as one of the recommended search terms, "monsanto evil". You can follow through and do some due diligence on things, and you will scream inside. Well, unless you don't really actually do any reading or any of that. It's simply not possible to put them under a microscope and not see the Devil laughing at you.

Anyways... Yeah... Lost faith entirely.

The question I would ask, is what are BG's intentions for the purchase? It could be construed as an endorsement of their actions, true ... However, it could also be an attempt at gaining some manner of steerage/control of what they're doing in the hopes of tempering it with a less homicidal form of reason.

-Stoic Joker (January 09, 2012, 06:45 AM)

Well, if he were going to actually do any good there, he's buy the company and burn it to the ground. There are no "good" uses for biological weapons.


Anyways... Looking for a new platform. Nice and easy to use. One that has no bio-weapons in it.


I'm so utterly disgusted that I am willing to settle for less (within reason -- I need to be able to manage things) if that comes with freedom, e.g. GNU GPL.

So, anything along those lines -- please advise. I've pretty much always run Windows servers, and the last time I ran a Linux box was forever and a day ago, so I'm totally out of touch with the latest and greatest.

I'll not get into the MS evil part but let's discuss about LAMP migration and other stuff.

Domain registrar :- Namecheap.com and Gandi.net, gossimer or any other enom based registrar is okay. Just double check if you're thinking about any other registrar because most of them are godaddy re-sellers. Also note that UK or eu based registrars are more expensive and costs 2$ extra for same domain price+ additional for features which you get free from most of the US based registrars, so avoid EU registrars if you have large number of domains in queue. I don't think moving small biz and commercial domains to non-us host is going to make sense, I mean SOPA is against freedom of speech, not commercial content or small biz. So upto you to decide..

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

I've heard those 2 echoed elsewhere multiple times. I think I'll look into them. The thing about Hover.com was that they have a system to help automate moving domains there, which means less work for me.

Server OS : There is a lot of documentation available for CentOS and UBuntu, Suse. I've invested more time with centos and suse.Ubuntu is going to be next if any client comes with such request. Start by installing VM with one of these distros in it. Break things in VM before doing anything on live site.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

I always think of Ubuntu as a desktop OS... I suppose I should look at that as well. (I just don't want to have to drop to the command line all the time for everything... yeah... I'm a tad lazy there.

CMS: Wordpress is fine and gets work done quickly compared to drupal and joomla, I found these two sucking my time for even simple things. You can use drupal or joomla if there are complex apps but other than that for simple blogs, static sites and form based sites wordpress is enough.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

Thanks. I think I might migrate some sites to Wordpress. I've seen some icky, dirty stuff in it that drove me nuts, but it seems to work ok and get things done well enough for static sites and blogs.

I'm really quite concerned about the CMS. They're a nightmare if you get them wrong. They're a dream if you get them right. So, this will be my PRIMARY concern as I'll be spending most of my time with the CMS.

Like for an email server, you set it up, do a tiny bit of maintenance, and it's done. Same for the OS. Most of that stuff is automated. The CMS? You need to get your hands dirty no matter what. I just want to be productive.

EMail: I think google apps for domain is fine and you get enough stuff that you need for typical mailing tasks.If you have too many domains to deploy then better to use external service like google apps because using your server is going to be waste time during maintenance and server transfer. In case of google apps all you have to do is change MX records in new VPS or server to fetch mails.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

I'm HEAVILY leaning towards Google apps here. I can always add in an SPF record for my own IP addresses for mail...

Host: I find it odd to suggest anything against softlayer because they're popular and known for their service. It's just that there are some glitches with them these days. I know rackspace(and their VPS division slicehost), knowhost are some good VPS hosts.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

Hahahah~! Yeah... Hard to beat Rackspace. It's also hard not to beat their prices~!

I've had nothing but good fortune with Softlayer, so I'm a bit reluctant to leave there.

I've not heard of Knowhost. I'll look into them.

My 2 cents.

-mahesh2k (January 09, 2012, 07:58 AM)

Thank you for those 2 cents~! I figure if I can get a dime or two, I'll be perfectly set.

6259

Living Room / Re: "Save the internet"

« Last post by Renegade on January 09, 2012, 04:33 AM »

I'm glad to see none other than Cory Doctorow agrees with me that THEY are out to eliminate general purpose open computer architectures. I've been harping on that ever since Sony suddenly and arbitrarily revoked the end-user's prior option to put Linux on 'their' new Playstations - and then began enforcing it.

But there is something relatively simple and devastatingly effective that can be done if we are forced to deal with nonsense like SOPA and all the collateral hassles it brings with it.

Stop consuming!

If organizations like the RIAA and MPAA are so convinced of the astronomical value of their products that they feel justified in buying draconian and unfair legislation to prevent what are largely fictional losses, the public can respond by saying: "You're right guys! We no longer want nor can afford your product."

And now comes the important part - don't just stop buying commercial books, movies, and music - completely stop consuming it. Don't borrow it. Don't gift it. Don't bootleg or pirate it. Don't share it. Don't do anything with it.

Stop going to movies. Stop buying or downloading music and videos. Stop getting books. Just reread the books you already own or have loaded on your e-reader. Stop watching TV and listening to the radio for anything other than the news. Let your Netflix and Hulu+ accounts expire for a while. Tell your cable or satellite providers you no longer want any of their movie channels.

In short - say NO to all commercial entertainment. Just walk away with a "Thanks but no thanks!"

Send a very clear message that don't need their product. And most importantly, demonstrate you're able and willing to live without it if you don't like the terms and conditions being offered.

It will probably require about three months before the impact is felt. But when the entertainment and publishing industries suddenly see the revenue streams dwindle to a trickle (no boycott is 100% absolute) - and no increase in piracy picking up the slack - you'll soon see a change of heart. Especially once it becomes clear to them the government won't dare bail out anything as non-essential as their industry.

Not that Uncle Sam could afford to. Because by this time the government will also be feeling a some pain. No sales means no money for paying employees - or business and sales taxes. Jobs might (will) be lost. Plants might shut down. I can hear the governors of affected States screaming blue murder since their unemployment will be going up and their own tax revenues going down because of it.

Next see if Europe will join in. Encourage the general public in places like the UK, France and Spain to stop consuming any US entertainment product until the crazy US government gets its head together and stops bullying their governments into passing similarly insane laws. And then let certain US companies know they will continue to see their products sit on shelves all over Europe until such time as they successfully use their influence to get those same unfair regulations they pushed through overturned.

If it turns into a case of who blinks first, the public has time on its side. None of us will starve or become ill if we can't see a movie, read a book, or listen to a song. But the industry certainly will if you stop consuming their products.

Hopefully they won't see the light. Hopefully they'll just dig in and try to tough it out long enough to eventually go out of business. Lovely thought - no more 'old school' labels or studios - and no more of their lobbyist groups as a result.

With luck, out of the wreckage will come a new media and publishing industry in which the artists, writers, musicians, and performers - in short, the creatives - are finally control. And in which they're able to keep a greater share of the revenue their work has generated.

One of the first rules of economic efficiency is to eliminate the middlemen whenever it's practical to do so.

I think that time has arrived. It's time for the old way of thinking to go away.

And starving an obsolete industry to death is the surest way of making sure necessary changes get made.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-40hz (January 09, 2012, 03:52 AM)

Nice call to action~!


Here are a few things to help wean any interested people off of mainstream media productions (in no particular order):


Truth Theory:
A fantastic site that links to all sorts of documentaries that you can watch for free. New videos come out daily. Most videos are on Youtube.

Currently "Ungrip" is on the front page. Great stuff. Highly recommended.


Documentaries Lectures:
Another great site full of all sorts of documentaries and lectures. It's very similar to Truth Theory, but simply has different videos. I'd recommend both of these sites. Again, you can watch everything for free. This site kicks! New videos come out daily. Most videos are on Youtube.


Vodo:
Free films from independent film makers. Great stuff there. I've recommended a few from there in various threads here. (Look for "The Third Letter" for a techno-horror future that reinforces why we should have GPL'd software in medicine. Check "Watch Alice Bleed" for a disturbing bit of entertainment -- warning -- it is very disturbing and not for those of a sensitive nature.) Here, everything is on torrent.


RT.com - Russia Today
A fresh approach to news. Not the typical propaganda that you've been used to. If anything, it exposes propaganda in mainstream media. God... I was so happy when I discovered RT...


Alex Jones' sites:
Infowars < Alternative news
Prison Planet < Alternative news
Prison Planet TV < Lots of videos here

Alex has a TONNE (that's metric) of amazing stuff.

Now, here's the kicker... Prison Planet TV requires a subscription... which isn't free... BUT... You can watch pretty much all of it online on Youtube for free. There's more... HE ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO SHARE HIS VIDEOS. HE WANTS YOU TO "PIRATE" HIS VIDEOS! Well, not pirate... share as it were.

With a subscription, you can share that login/subscription with 5 more people! So, 6 people get to use 1 subscription! And, you can all download everything, upload it to Youtube or burn it to CD/DVD, and share it with as many people as you want!

I *just* bought a subscription, and have given out my login to 3 other people. So, if anyone wants to use it, let me know as I can share with 2 more people. Just PM me or email me. I'll give out the login to the first 2 people I hear from. (I'd only ask that if you decide not to use it, you tell me so that I can give it to someone else.)


Anyways, there are a few non-mainstream media sources for anyone who is interested. I can give out a few more, but those are pretty much the top of my list at the moment.




(Side note: I saw the new "Mission Impossible" the other night. DO NOT bother going to see it. Waste of money. It should have been a made for TV movie. Hollywood is really grasping with this one...)

6260

Developer's Corner / Lost My Faith - Need New Religion - Need LAMP Help...

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 11:42 PM »

Everyone that knows me knows that I've been pro Microsoft and hailed Bill Gates as a hero for his philanthropy.

I take it all back. I was wrong.

My faith has been utterly shattered.

I've posted a little bit about how I've seen that Bill Gates is firmly a part of the dark side here:

http://cynic.me/2012...tment-in-bill-gates/

I am locked into Microsoft in many ways, and know that I can't escape easily.

So, I'm looking for help.

I run Windows Server for www, ftp, and email.

I'm running DotNetNuke as the CMS for most sites that I have. I love DNN, but at this point, I can't see sticking with it simply because I don't want to deal with any headaches in the future when trying to run it on a LAMP stack.

I'd like to move onto a LAMP stack ASAP. This will take me quite some time as I need to move a lot of things from one server to another first so that I can cut costs before I go out and get another server. Sigh...

I'm currently thinking that I should simply flee as far from the proprietary world as possible. I'm thinking that the closer to pure GPL I can get, the better. However, I'm waffling on the Apache/Mozilla/GPL/BSD and similar "freedom" licenses as well.

I still need to move my domains away from GoDaddy as well. At the moment, I'm thinking that I should go with Hover.com. I have 58 domains, and many are live sites, so I really don't want to jump the gun and make a mess of things.

However, I don't really think it will make much of a difference if my domains are held by a Canadian vs. US company, as Canada seems to be going down the same dark path...

Anyways, here's what I need:

• New domain registrar
  
• New server OS
  
• New CMS
  
• New email server or hosted email
  
• New host
  
• New dunno... did I forget something?

My primary requirement is very simple: things need to be simple and easy to use. I'm not looking to recompile an OS or anything. I want to get things transferred and up and running ASAP.

I'm thinking that I should probably go for a VPS instead of a dedicated server. I'm quite frankly a bit sick of paying so much, and would like to reduce costs. However, I still want flexibility, freedom, and reliability. I'm willing to pay for it. I'm not looking for the cheapest solution out there.

So far my initial thoughts are:

• Domain registrar: Hover.com or Namecheap
  
• Server OS: Linux - Suse? CentOS? Not sure... Solaris or BSD? seems like it will be difficult, which I want to avoid. BSD?
  
• CMS: Drupal and WordPress (Joomla is messy)
  
• Email: Gmail or postfix? Not sure... Using hMailserver now
  
• Host: VPS - no idea... With Softlayer at the moment...

Anyone care to weigh in with some recommendations on systems that will maximize my freedom?

Thanks in advance!


NOTE: I am already doing research on things. I'm not being lazy. I'm asking because I value people's opinions here. There are a lot of very smart people here at DC, with a truckload of experience, and that I TRUST. Big point there. Anonymous reviews and all that stuff out there... Not so keen on that when I don't know the people.

6261

Living Room / Re: Kopimism - a newly-formalised religion

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 09:08 PM »

@Ren - It's "turtles all the way down" if you ask me. 

Like my grandfather used to say: Everybody lies about sex and religion. 

-40hz (January 08, 2012, 08:48 PM)

Pretty much~!

I think one of my absolute favourite quotes from anyone, ever, is from the Bible - John 18:38 - Pontius Pilate:

What is truth?

http://en.wikipedia....iki/What_is_truth%3F


Oh yeah... I forgot to mention... This sentence is false.

6262

Living Room / Re: Kopimism - a newly-formalised religion

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 07:48 PM »

So...anybody interested in becoming a member of my new clergy? Reasonable rates! And, this month only, we're running a special on elevations to the rank of bishop. 50% off through January 31, 2012. 

Don't delay!

-40hz (January 08, 2012, 01:54 PM)

Can I smoke pot and play with heavy weaponry for recreational purposes?

Um... Any chance of just whittling that down to just Wiccan something?? It's just that the Pagan, harmony with nature types have always struck me with being a much safer (on the bloodthirsty scale) option. Not saying the others are necessarily "bad" (history has already covered that...), I just have a few "comfort level" concerns.

-Stoic Joker (January 08, 2012, 03:08 PM)

Wicca is an interesting case. Modern Wicca originated in either the 1800's or 1900's, but depending on who you listen to, some trace its origins to witch trials or back further. What's the truth? Oh cripes... God goddess knows.

The pagan thing again is really mucked up. Numerous pagan religions throughout history have used ritual human sacrifice. Again, depending on who you listen to, "virgin" often simply means "child". Making pagans a bunch of blood-thirsty baby killers.

The "Wicker Man" comes from the Druids. Again, depends on who you want to listen to. 

I've never heard of human sacrifice in any Hindu religion except for the Thuggees who worshipped Kali. Someone probably knows more than me about that though.

As an offshoot of Hinduism, Buddhism seems to be particularly peaceful, and I've never heard of any ritual violence there. Well, with the obvious exception of the warrior monk castes and all that jazz.


OH! OH! OH! I know one religion where I've NEVER heard of ANY violence! The PASTAFARIANS~! FSM! FTW~!

6263

Living Room / Re: Kopimism - a newly-formalised religion

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 09:02 AM »

http://falkvinge.net...s-official-religion/ (in Sweden)

It's at least as consistent as most other things that get recognised as religions. Although I'm not sure the sharing of knowledge and information is not, for me, the most beautiful thing there is (in a way I'd say finding/discovering/creating might be) - and that I could claim something like this without cracking out in laughter, it is true that sharing is one of the most natural things humans do - with ideas if not with resources

-iphigenie (January 08, 2012, 08:47 AM)

Woohoo~!


Now, I wonder if I can start a sub-sect/cultish off-shoot/branch that believes in smoking pot, sharing information, and sharing photos of targets shot at long range with fully-automatic 50 caliber sniper rifles (yay for Barrett!) or mortars or bazookas or armor piercing tank rounds or white phosphorous rounds or...

Meh... I think I'd better start off light with 50 cal sniper rifles at a few hundred metres. UND KEINE EIER!

6264

Living Room / Re: Can U Say Crap-O-Riffic??

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 08:18 AM »

It lives. Rebuild was successful, so it's back to normal...or at least back to fixing the original screwed up.

-Stoic Joker (January 08, 2012, 08:15 AM)

I feel for you... And yet again, we see why we estimate the time it will take in minutes, and budget hours... 

Some days I just hate computers...

6265

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on January 08, 2012, 08:10 AM »

Just came across this.
A beautifully simplified explanation of the underlying concepts: DEBT LIMIT - A GUIDE TO AMERICAN FEDERAL DEBT MADE EASY.

-IainB (January 08, 2012, 07:44 AM)

That... was... BRILLIANT~!

(Just making it easier to watch there.)

Definitely, thanks for sharing that one~!

6266

Living Room / Re: Kopimism - a newly-formalised religion

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 10:22 PM »

Hehehe~!

To be honest, when I look at what goes on in most mainstream religions, it really makes religions like the Kopimists and Scientologists sound much more sane.

e.g. I think it's better to believe in Xenu and aliens than it is to believe that running around killing people is good.

“In the case of this religion, the preachers are defined as the ones facilitating holy copying (and remixing). Translated to nerdspeak, that means the communications between operators of trackers/hubs and the people who partake in the sacrament of copying now carries confessional status, by and large making it illegal and impossible to collect as evidence in a trial,” Falkvinge continues.

Hehehe~! You go~! Woot~!

6267

Living Room / Re: "Save the internet"

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 09:03 PM »

The Arab world has been provoked for a long time. They're not going down a path -- they're being forced down it.

-Renegade (January 07, 2012, 10:03 AM)

Hmm...their legitimate issues aside...I wonder. Are they really being "forced" down a path - or are they just talking themselves into taking the bait?

-40hz (January 07, 2012, 11:39 AM)

Interesting point. I'm not sure there's too much of a difference though. The net effect seems to be the same. I might be missing something though. I've not really considered the different angles there much. 

6268

Living Room / Re: I know I've got a dose of absenteeism... but it's going to get worse

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 10:16 AM »

So what did you do for water? Like on that 7 day stretch?

6269

Living Room / Re: If you had a medical implant would you rather it be closed or open source?

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 10:10 AM »

I watched it.

-Deozaan (January 07, 2012, 03:12 AM)

Did it not hit the nail on the head?

6270

Living Room / Re: Found on the Web: Short Rant Against Users of Free Web Apps

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 10:09 AM »

Brave new world out there.

-40hz (January 06, 2012, 05:57 PM)

I so hate when you're right sometimes... 

The article does point out that the legal arguments in the suit are largely groundless. But in many places, the very threat of a lawsuit is enough to make local governments back down in order to avoid long and costly litigation. Even if they think they will eventually win.
 

-40hz (January 07, 2012, 08:06 AM)

Again... very much hating that you're right there... 


Talk about a system that seriously need a reboot...

6271

Living Room / Re: "Save the internet"

« Last post by Renegade on January 07, 2012, 10:03 AM »

I can't see Islamic nations retreating into their own separate virtual reality as accomplishing anything other than setting the stage for future wars. Look at what similar measures have done for North Korea. Created a paranoid and belligerent society blindly convinced of their superiority over the rest of the world. Especially now that they have nuclear weapons and feel justified in 'rattling the saber' at any who question or criticize them.

What I worry about is that their anger and fears will eventually reach the point where they become convinced (in the absence of any other viewpoint) of the necessity to do something that will prove to be extremely stupid.

Whereupon N.K. will step over the line from "potential" risk to "clear and present" threat.

At which point will only leave the question of whether North Korea's total destruction is to be carried out using a conventional or strategic class of weaponry.

I'd hope the Arab world isn't walking down that same risky path. 

-40hz (January 07, 2012, 08:33 AM)

My belligerent peace-mongering -- likely to be offensive to some

The media paints a very scary picture, but I don't believe it's very accurate. It's just typical fear-mongering media hysteria.

NOBODY in South Korea is scared of the North. Nobody. I've never talked to anyone remotely worried about it. And yes, I've talked to several spooks about it too.

It's all a game to "get stuff".

North Korea will continue to play that game for as long as they can. They get what they want most of the time, and they get to keep power. The will not step over into "clear and present" threat. That's counter productive.

Pyong-yang is a controlled city. Entrance is restricted. Nothing you see in PY is remotely representative of the rest of the country.

Elsewhere, people live in abject poverty. Starvation is common. They're not concerned about much other than figuring out where their next meal comes from (and avoiding any potential party wrath).

North Korea has more than enough troops to completely destroy the US 8th army. I've had officers in the 8th army tell me, "We're just a speed bump for them." They would roll over Seoul before anyone could do anything. However, they can't keep it. And everyone knows it. So... they all dance along as NK leads.



Iran is only a threat in the same way that if you beat, torture, mistreat, and corner a dog, that dog will be dangerous as well. Whose fault is it? The dog's fault? Hardly. The US has committed the most vile sins imaginable in the Middle East, and still, somehow, it's all THEIR fault.

For the Arab world going down a risky path? It's more like a pack of cruel boys with a dog on a leash, yanking it, beating it, torturing it, and dragging it down a "risky path" because they did the same thing to it yesterday, and this morning when they went to beat it, it bit one of them. Now they'll "teach it a real lesson"... 

The Palatable Summary:

North Korea isn't remotely a threat. They just want free stuff.

The Arab world has been provoked for a long time. They're not going down a path -- they're being forced down it.

6272

Living Room / Re: I know I've got a dose of absenteeism... but it's going to get worse

« Last post by Renegade on January 06, 2012, 10:24 PM »

Thanks for getting that up there!

It really is inspiring. I can't imagine what it would be like.

6273

Living Room / Re: If you had a medical implant would you rather it be closed or open source?

« Last post by Renegade on January 06, 2012, 10:17 PM »

Has anyone watched "The Third Letter" yet?

It's only about 10 minutes long. Very short. Please, do watch it. It is EXACTLY what this thread is about. It's a VERY worthwhile watch.

-Renegade (January 06, 2012, 06:21 PM)

Is there anyplace where you can download or watch just The Third Letter without having to get the five the other shorts that are included in the Otherworlds #1 torrent?
 

-40hz (January 06, 2012, 06:32 PM)

I looked, but only saw a Youtube link...

My bad - it's 15 min. Still, pretty short and worth a watch.

6274

Living Room / Re: If you had a medical implant would you rather it be closed or open source?

« Last post by Renegade on January 06, 2012, 06:21 PM »

Has anyone watched "The Third Letter" yet?

It's only about 10 minutes long. Very short. Please, do watch it. It is EXACTLY what this thread is about. It's a VERY worthwhile watch.

6275

Living Room / Re: If you had a medical implant would you rather it be closed or open source?

« Last post by Renegade on January 06, 2012, 06:13 PM »

So what happened to uncle Dave??

Well he was trying to jailbreak his pacemaker and bricked himself.

-Stoic Joker (January 06, 2012, 05:45 PM)

Great one!

-daddydave (January 06, 2012, 05:49 PM)

+1

That was a fantastic illustration of exactly the kind of thing that could go wrong.