Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[recluse]

It's fabulous, kenny!
It's so realistic!

[kennyc]

Thanks Recluse! I appreciate that! Working on the background now....

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Here's the first one I took. Came out about like I wanted.

That's a painting? Wow... looks just like a photo.... nice job.

BOb

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Wondering if I'm missing something. Or if I've BEEN missing something. Switching from BlackBerry to a Palm Pre Plus next week, and found this: http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-a...r-ebook-reader
Either it's too good to be true, or I just missed it last time I went looking for ebook reading software on a phone platform. Anyone know which?

Don't have a Pre and haven't tried it, but there are an assortment of interesting things popping up for WebOS. You might also look at pReader which is similar, and free and open source, to boot.
______
Dennis

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Don't have a Pre and haven't tried it, but there are an assortment of interesting things popping up for WebOS. You might also look at pReader which is similar, and free and open source, to boot.
______
Dennis

Thanks, Dennis, very interesting

[happy_terd]

About to watch "48 hours" with the wife. She has never seen it before.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Not necessarily a lawsuit; RIM's strong suit has always been security with its email and messaging, and UAE & Saudi Arabia want a backdoor for "judicial, social and national security concerns".

Seeing how those countries have such respect for their women and religious tolerance, I'm sure they have only altrusitic motives.

In fairness, every government wants a back door like that. Some are simply a bit more blatant than others.

Mind you, if I were a bad guy engaged in things I didn't want a government to know about, I'd think twice about using Blackberries or any similar device to coordinate with my associates, unless I could be sure that all such communications used innocuous phrases that were meaningful to the associates but not to government snoopers reading my electronic mail.

And what passes for moderate Islamic states (which the Saudis and the UAE are) may be even more paranoid about people like Al Queda and the Taliban than we are. The Saudi regime, for example, came to power by overthrowing a previous government perceived as having drifted too far away from Islamic principles. The Wahabi strain of Islam practiced by the Saudis is fairly fundamentalist, and while the Saudi royalty are cosmopolitan, they remember just how they became rulers, and don't want the same thing happen to them. I suspect similar motivations in the UAE.

By far not the only reason, just the one that sealed the deal; I was already leaning toward something running Android.

Android has neat stuff, but from what I've seen, getting root is a non-trivial undertaking. A friend bought his wife and daughter Droid phones, but got a Nokai 900 for himself because he could get root on it.
______
Dennis

[devilsadvocate]

Dennis! Good to talk to you again, fellow Linuxer and all-around intelligent guy.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

In fairness, every government wants a back door like that. Some are simply a bit more blatant than others.

"Every government" can keep on wanting. The minute someone caves to that type of request without a warrant (or whatever the non-American equivalent of due process may be--assuming such a thing exists), I start losing faith in humanity fast...that's a problem, because I don't have much to begin with at this point.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Mind you, if I were a bad guy engaged in things I didn't want a government to know about, I'd think twice about using Blackberries or any similar device to coordinate with my associates, unless I could be sure that all such communications used innocuous phrases that were meaningful to the associates but not to government snoopers reading my electronic mail.

I believe there was an old mom's saying to the effect of "If you don't want it on the front page of the New York Times, don't say it on the phone" or somesuch. In fact we just got done discussing this in my SE571 InfoSec class; as it happens, RIM put up some pretty convincing data to show the Secret Service that the BB's encryption was strong enough for President Obama to continue using one. Now it appears that security is for sale.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

And what passes for moderate Islamic states (which the Saudis and the UAE are) may be even more paranoid about people like Al Queda and the Taliban than we are. The Saudi regime, for example, came to power by overthrowing a previous government perceived as having drifted too far away from Islamic principles. The Wahabi strain of Islam practiced by the Saudis is fairly fundamentalist, and while the Saudi royalty are cosmopolitan, they remember just how they became rulers, and don't want the same thing happen to them. I suspect similar motivations in the UAE.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia. To set local time, take UTC and subtract 600 years.

Because really, who would want to overthrow a government which allows near-persecution of its own women? </sarcasm> The modern world is no place for fundamentalism of any stripe, yet we seem to have as much of it now as we did during the Crusades. On the other hand, I dig that whole death-penalty-for-rapists thing they have, so maybe it's all a matter of perspective.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Android has neat stuff, but from what I've seen, getting root is a non-trivial undertaking. A friend bought his wife and daughter Droid phones, but got a Nokai 900 for himself because he could get root on it.

Droid X was rooted 3 days after it was released
It does take varying degrees of skill to do it, but I think that's for the better actually. Imagine Linux being declared a security disaster because 35,000,000 Ubuntu users figured out how to run as the root user...

Again, the issue of RIM selling out to governments isn't the reason I'm giving up on my BlackBerry; it's just the final reason. If I was that concerned, I could use my own encryption via HTTPS, tunneling, or whatever. RIM is getting behind in the consumer arena and I don't have to worry about corporate email push--the other thing BBs were so good for. I like the idea of having more control over a device; I found some NetBeans Android plugins and I already have a Java background so I'm looking to have some fun with this thing.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Dennis! Good to talk to you again, fellow Linuxer and all-around intelligent guy.

Thank you.

"Every government" can keep on wanting. The minute someone caves to that type of request without a warrant (or whatever the non-American equivalent of due process may be--assuming such a thing exists), I start losing faith in humanity fast...that's a problem, because I don't have much to begin with at this point.

I'm a hopeful pragmatist. Humanity has managed to survive this long, and I'm cautiously optimistic it will continue to do so.

I believe there was an old mom's saying to the effect of "If you don't want it on the front page of the New York Times, don't say it on the phone" or somesuch. In fact we just got done discussing this in my SE571 InfoSec class; as it happens, RIM put up some pretty convincing data to show the Secret Service that the BB's encryption was strong enough for President Obama to continue using one. Now it appears that security is for sale.

I've never considered things like email to be secure, and in practice, I don't say things in email that would give me heartburn if they became public.

I have no idea what sort of settlement RIM might be reaching with the Saudis and RIM. There may well be a local equivalent of due process involved.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia. To set local time, take UTC and subtract 600 years.

Because really, who would want to overthrow a government which allows near-persecution of its own women? </sarcasm> The modern world is no place for fundamentalism of any stripe, yet we seem to have as much of it now as we did during the Crusades. On the other hand, I dig that whole death-penalty-for-rapists thing they have, so maybe it's all a matter of perspective

Who would want to overthrow the Saudis? Extreme fundamentalists who would make the current rulers look like good guys. Think Osama bin Laden and his friends.

As mentioned, the current Saudi regime overthrew their predecessors in what was essentially a fundamentalist revolt. They have to walk a fairly delicate line, and at least appear properly devout and adherent to their own people, however dissipated they may be in private.

Saudi Arabia has a fantastically wealthy ruling class and a large poor population with little of a middle class between. The folks back on the farms and in the villages probably haven't changed all that much in 600 years, and have no desire to start.

Droid X was rooted 3 days after it was released
It does take varying degrees of skill to do it, but I think that's for the better actually. Imagine Linux being declared a security disaster because 35,000,000 Ubuntu users figured out how to run as the root user...

It's the "various degrees of skill to do it" that's the issue. A poster elsewhere was ranting at some lengths about what he had to go through to get root on his Android device (including a firmware downgrade to get a hole that would allow him to do it.) He thought it violated what open source was all about, and another respondent regretted the Linux devs didn't use GPL v3 instead of 2, which would provide some legal teeth to keep people from creating implementations where you couldn't easily get root. I think if I were in a position to make that change in Linux licensing and I wanted to bring Linux adoption by businesses to a screeching halt, going GPL v3 on Linux is how I would do it.

It's a fundamental paradox. You want Linux to succeed and take over the world, but in doing so, it will get implemented in all sorts of places where you don't want the end user to casually become root, if for no other reason that the support nightmare it would generate.

Again, the issue of RIM selling out to governments isn't the reason I'm giving up on my BlackBerry; it's just the final reason. If I was that concerned, I could use my own encryption via HTTPS, tunneling, or whatever. RIM is getting behind in the consumer arena and I don't have to worry about corporate email push--the other thing BBs were so good for. I like the idea of having more control over a device; I found some NetBeans Android plugins and I already have a Java background so I'm looking to have some fun with this thing.

I used to have a BB, and push email was an annoyance. Mine was forever going off with incoming mail that either required no action from me or would simply have to wait till I was somewhere I could take the required action. It pretty much defined how closely I didn't want to be tied to my employer.
______
Dennis

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

That's a painting? Wow... looks just like a photo.... nice job.

BOb

No, no, no, That was the first photo taken from my photo-walk.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Here's the first one I took. Came out about like I wanted.

I can see that would influence Elizabeth Mowry

Originally Posted by kennyc

The Flower is finished. Still have to finish the background though.

Here's a preview:

Stunning !

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Wondering if I'm missing something. Or if I've BEEN missing something. Switching from BlackBerry to a Palm Pre Plus next week, and found this: http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-a...r-ebook-reader

Either it's too good to be true, or I just missed it last time I went looking for ebook reading software on a phone platform. Anyone know which?

Have you had a look in the Wiki here ? (Link top of screen)

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

made spaghetti. quite cool here today, and used REAL garlic!!!! anyone else have issues with the powdered or dried minced stuff?

I've used the diced stuff in the jar for years. It's awfully convenient but nowhere near as good as fresh. I now use the jar stuff only when I'm in a hurry (i.e., lazy).

[kennyc]

Just ordered a new refrigerator....going for coffee #3 and back to painting a bit...

[sherkanner]

What am I doing right now?
Reading this non-sensical thread ^^

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by kennyc

The Flower is finished. Still have to finish the background though.

Here's a preview:

Wow!! That's amazing!! Very nicely done.