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Obama won. Thank you America.

(PS: I cheated by post-dating this to the exact time the polls closed on the West coast 2 weeks ago. I hadn't written anything in this blog in over a year, and I figure this is probably something I should have written about.)

Larry & I have had our eye on a Dyson vacuum for quite a while. We finally found a really good deal on Craigslist, and bought this:

The Dyson DC17 Animal retails for about $550, but we found a brand new, never opened (although the box was torn & taped), for $400. That's still a lot more than I thought I'd ever spend on a vacuum... but I think it was worth it. We vacuumed a 10sqft area by our back door twice with our old vacuum. Then we went over it with the Dyson. The DC17 got an extra cup of dust, dirt, and hair up. Gross, huh?

Trivia: Did you know that Bo's middle name is Hoover, and Luke's middle name is Dyson? They both would go around eating every little thing off the floor, so we thought those middle names were apropos.

PS: I'm voting for Barack Obama.

Trump: Bush is the Worst President in History

Seti.org Article ("Uranus Has a Dark Spot"):

During the past decade, many bright spots have been seen on Uranus, in both red and near-infrared filters. But this is the first dark spot ever seen on the planet.

Thanks to Digg user "chris9902" for providing the following joke:

Farnsworth: Go ahead, try it. You'll find that every heavenly body has its own particular scent. Here, I'll point it at Jupiter.

Fry: Smells like strawberries.

Farnsworth: Exactly! And now Saturn.

Fry: Pine needles. Oh, man, this is great! Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus! (Laughs nerdily)

Leela: I don't get it.

Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.

Fry: Oh. What's it called now?

Farnsworth: Urectum.

So, now you know to use your turn signals, and keep right unless passing, it's time to make sure you aren't driving blind. Set your car side mirrors to eliminate blinds spots. I've been doing this for about 2 years now, and it works great.

1. Lean your head over until it almost touches the driver's window, and then position the side mirror on the car's left side so you can just see the rear quarterpanel (the rear of the car) in the mirror. Note this will have it positioned farther out than you probably had it before.
2. Lean your head to be just between the two front seats, at your normal height, and position the right side mirror so you can just see the rear quarterpanel of the passenger side in the mirror.
3. Adjust the center rearview mirror to place it facing the center of the rear window.
4. While driving note that a car passing you begins in the center of your rearview mirror. As it approaches you, it moves to the side of your center rear view mirror, and at the same time appears in your side mirror. This shows you that there is no rear blind spot, because there is an overlap between the mirrors.
5. Also note that your side mirrors now capture a tremendous additional amount of information about what is in the lanes immediately next to your car. Previously you would have to turn your head to ensure nothing was in the lanes beside your car before changing lanes. Now, your side mirrors do a much better job of covering this blind spot on the side.

I came across an article that summed up the notable adoptions of Linux from around the world in 2006. Here they are:

IBM will not use Windows Vista - but will move to Linux desktops
IBM canceled their contract with Microsoft last October which means that they will no longer use Windows for their desktops. Beginning July, IBM employees will begin using a Red Hat-based platform.

The City of Chicago goes Linux, saves over 85% in the process
Big elements such as the vehicle registrations system, online job applications, restaurant inspections and more were migrated to a Red-Hat system in order to reduce costs and improve support, performance and scalability.

Munich opts to use Debian version of Linux
The city of Munich has opted to use the Debian version of Linux for a high-profile, 14,000-computer installation, passing over Novell's Suse Linux despite its regional popularity. Another massive win.

Ubuntu is noted as being #27 in PCWorld's 100 Best Products of the Year
Clearly a great result being placed above the iPod, iTunes, Google Desktop, Flickr and other good products.

Linux cuts Kent Police system costs by 90% by using SuSE
Kent Police has cut the cost of running its major criminal investigations system by 90% using Novell Open Enterprise Server, the company's version of SuSE Linux.

Kerala (an Indian state) goes Linux
Children in 12500 high schools in the state will not be taught Windows. Instead instructors are lining up Linux for them. Another good win for Linux.

Venezuela's Government Shifts to Open Source Software
According to government sources in Venezuela, the South American nation has announced an official policy that exclusively calls for the use of open source software in that government.

Korea migrates 120K civil servants to Linux desktop
The Korean government is to buy 120,000 copies of Hancom Linux Deluxe this year, enough to switch 23 per cent of its installed base Microsoft user to open source equivalents. So another 120,000 users.

Dell refunds Linux users who ditch XP
Dell, a massive player in the computer market have obviously accepted the need for this as an option for those users who do not wish to have Windows. A reasonably good gain as far as the consumer is concerned.

BlogMailr is a new (free) service that lets you post to any one of various blog platforms via email.  Yeah, most blog platforms already have this service, but, this is a new one, m'kay?  Really, the only reason I'm posting about it is to test it out.

I recently had to reformat my Windows PC and reinstall Mozilla Firefox (IE7 and/or Defender hosed it). Here are the top 12 extensions I immediately installed to get me all set up ready to surf the web like a pro:

• Adblock Plus
• Adblock Filterset.G Updater
• Google Browser Sync
• Google Toolbar
• Tab Mix Plus
• Sage
• Web Developer
• All-in-One Sidebar
• Download Statusbar
• Stop-or-Reload Button
• Nuke Anything Enhanced
• IE Tab

I've seen several 9/11 conspiracy theories, and after watching the debunking responses, am pretty familiar with the crazy ideas regarding the 9/11 events. After watching the 9/11: Press for Truth video, there are several things that make this one different:

• It is being supported by surviving family members of 9/11 victims.
• It seems to be supported by an extensive collection of media reports from major news sources.
• It seems far less sensationalistic than the other conspiracy theories.
• It is not far-fetched: it seems to be reporting that there are a lot of questions not being truthfully answered, while keeping speculation to a minimum.

The one question I'd really like answered is this: what is the extent of Pakistan's involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks?

In my steps toward software freedom, I installed Ubuntu on my iBook, almost effortlessly. The only thing that didn't work was my wireless adapter. After a little digging, I ran a few commands that upgraded the firmware of the card. Since I sold my PC, my plans are to buy a super-duper laptop to replace my iBook, and run Ubuntu on it exclusively (may dual-boot Vista).

I have used my iBook almost exclusively at home for the past 15 months. I can now conclusively say that I like OS X. About the same as Windows XP. The one thing they both lack, however, is freedom. That is becoming more important to me these days, as I have discovered that vendor lock-in and closed source software can cause enormous headaches for IT departments (i.e. me). Open source software is just plain better -- in many ways. Perhaps more on that, later.