Less confusion is good

I was reinstalling scipy so I could do some stuff with it and noticed an error in my install from the debian archives of python-scipy(python-scipy_0.7.0-2_i386.deb). So went to /debian-bugs-closed/ and found that it was fixed yesterday and a newer version was making its way through the ranks of the debian empire. It makes me happy that I am not confused. I have studied UNIX and Linux for 15 years now and very intensely for about 5 years. It is so pleasant to finally get how it all relates. I really hate being confused and shell scripting is a real bear to jump into cold, POSIX is another, REGEX is a wolverine, and with all the other things I had to learn to make it all complete ( C, gdb, XML, C++, ,Python, scheme, perl, make, Cmake, config, ...^^eniπ, it is like a complete ecosystem of poisonous bugs, bats, snakes, wolves, tigers, poisonous plants, fungus, bacteria, and other things whose only purpose is to hunt me, kill me, and then feast on my carcass. In a way, much like life in the jungle and everywhere else.

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of python-scipy, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:
python-scipy_0.7.1-1.debian.tar.gz
to main/p/python-scipy/python-scipy_0.7.1-1.debian.tar.gz

>>> import scipy as Sci
>>> import scipy.linalg
>>> A=Sci.array([ [4,3,2],[2,8,6],[1,4,7]])
>>> A
array([[4, 3, 2],
       [2, 8, 6],
       [1, 4, 7]])

Something comes to mind when I look at the BP disaster - Chernobyl. For one it could play out to impact life everywhere in a very significant negative manner. The US is whining that BP must pay them for damage, but what of the rest of the world? This is a snafu that rivals Chernobyl. So it is the oil of an English company drilling under the permission of the US government in a deal that was probably forged between elder Bush and the PM of England. The outrage of the congress is a mock gesture that signifies the utter corruption there. They are only interested in how it affects their ability to pay themselves. If it kills most of the planet , that is not their problem, if somebody doesn't like it, they will start a war there. A country that keeps doomsday weapons is not worried about how they maintain superiority by force. The governments of this planet are such two-faced predators that it could hardly escape observation. Nature does not favor predators. It allows them in the structure, but it the part of nature that builds and exists in symbiosis that always survives. It is a simple equation or Markov matrix and it is why nations grow and fall so easily in the time of centuries. It seems to me that the science fiction characters of the Puppeteers would be the most realistic survivors.

Why do English phonetics have so many bad rules? It seems the spoken and written languages are not the same. Survivers, survivors.

Ubuntu vs. Vista

Ubuntu is a total win. I found Google gadgets and that adds the eye candy that users look for to make their system personal and attractive. I now have given somebody a system that is safe and secure, fast, attractive, and most of all usable. Ubuntu wins by a wide margin on speed, security, usability, available applications, ease of use, appearance, and user experience. I was using the laptop I set up for my friend and why they would ever want to use the Windows partition, is beyond me. I will monitor the situation and see if there is any application that needs to exist in the Ubuntu world.

Installing Ubuntu over Vista

This link had a detailed description of the process and it was really simple. I had a DVD of Ubuntu 9.04 and it was really professional and very simple to understand. It recognized Vista and the free partition and gave me clear and easily understood options, like what is your name? I am impressed. They have done for free, what Microsoft could not do with 2 trillion dollars. How bad of programmers must they be at Microsoft? 30 years and 2 trillion dollars and they deliver a piece of s2t that couldn't be safely and successfully operated by an alien with seven hands and an IQ of 10 million.

The people at Ubuntu and debian and KDE and a million others that provide support for open source,deserve the gratitude and respect of the world for what they have done. They are truly artists, talented, persistent, .. MOTU! Linus rocks!, Linux rocks!

While I was typing this post, Ubuntu finished installing and I am running Vista/Ubuntu dual boot on the other computer as I type here. 15 minutes from decision to completion. WOW! There is nothing more that I can say, Linus, and the millions of others that contribute to the open source concept are talented and this is definitely a success.

I am stunned with the quality of Linux and Ubuntu in particular. It was instantly usable, booted quickly, and when I plugged in the ethernet it was on in a second, and Firefox had imported all the bookmarks from the Vista partition! It is like a dream. It is sooooo good.

Oh well, nothing is perfect. I ran into a problem and I suppose I could have created it. The allocated space was only 2.3 G of 98 available and I probably should have read a little better when I installed. I looked and the Windows partitioner must have done something odd because the free partition that was supposed to exist and I thought existed is missing! 2 trillion dollars, 30 years, 100s of thousands of employees and they don't write a 16 byte table properly. How bad can it be? That is so sloppy. I can't say this went without a hitch now. I am booting Windows Vista to try and see why it goofed up the partitioning, but I am really upset with Microsoft. They have wasted years of my life with their sloppy software.

While I type this I am going back to Vista to see what the problem was. I have seen this before and it is one of their tricks to interfere with using Linux. I had to format the empty space as a new drive and now try for a new install. It says the partition table is full and this happens every time when you shrink windows and try to use the extra space. I should have just deleted the entire thing and installed Ubuntu on the entire drive. I am sure that would have created some angst for the user and it is better to let them look at the Windows pictures for a while and have it there like a ragged, stinky, rotting wooby( worn out childhood comfort blanket ). I am formatting the volume so that it is really, really there and I will install over it when I restart. What a pain in the CPU.

Now I am starting the install again and will type as it goes and report what I see. First it asked for language and I said the default English. I selected Install from the menu, and it is loading the software from the disk now. It took about 2 minutes. It is asking language again and I say English again, ( Then click forward), I picked my time zone ( Then click forward), USA, forward, there is about a 1 minute delay here, Now I choose side by side again and it says it is resizing the partition, but I have some doubt if it is doing what I hope. I had to choose manual to create the partitions and now it is installing the system and it looks like it will take about 4 minutes. The idea of doing a manual partition would probably be enough to put most people off and scare them away. I am sure that another option could be included to compensate for this Windows bug. It is 48 % now and I will know for sure if it is right, in a few minutes. It seems to me that the disk partitioning and resize is the only real issue for the OS and this needs to be more advanced and I hope somebody asks me to help with that. It took 10 minutes for this part and it is the longest element of the entire process. It is now cleaning up and asking "restart now?" and so I clicked. DVD popped out, Grub menu, .5 sec, Boot 17 seconds, initial screen with internet connection, 5 more seconds. AND ..... "df -h" says ..... drum roll, 38G!. Now I will see if Windoze is still happy with its reduced role as the dunsel. I skipped "chkdsk" and it was on in 3 seconds to password, and 30 seconds to first virus warning :( It also took another 30 seconds more for the mouse to stop jerking around. It seems that it worked out okay now and I have successfully dumped the WInDowze virus plugin.

I am doing the updates that need to be applied for the time between when I downloaded my 9.04 version and now, which has been a few months. This will take a while. ( 20 minutes to be exact).

So it has been a success and Ubuntu is fully functional and will be a great tool.

Debian packaging

Just for the sake of knowing:

1. I am going to create a .deb package of this goofy program
2. Change my repositories to add a local network directory
3. Create the .deb package on the network
4. Find it in the repository
5. Install it.

Also this is a link to the comic I stole from xkcd.com