Attoblog Gallistel

From an old Bloggermann story about how the Bush Administration uses the War on Terror:

But, if merely a reasonable case can be made that any of these juxtapositions of events are more than just coincidences, it underscores the need for questions to be asked in this country - questions about what is prudence, and what is fear-mongering; questions about which is the threat of death by terror, and which is the terror of threat.

Go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9665308/#051012a
to find out more.

Here is the a link to an article covering the newest story: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Olbermann_The_Nexus_of_politics_and_0815.html.

http://wordblockitid.wordpress.com!!!

According to MozillaZine ( http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=6995), Firefox 1.1 has been scrapped. Firefox 1.1 was to be released end of July/beginning of August. Now plans are for a September release of Firefox 1.5. What was the big change? It sounds like Mozilla wanted to add SVG support to Gecko, which is the engine that renders graphics inside Firefox, along with improvement to the Extension and Update features. Personally, I think it sounds like a good idea.

According to IEBlog ( http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/27/422721.aspx), Microsoft won’t backport security features or make available the more secure, basic tab using Internet Explorer (IE) 7. Microsoft claims that this is part of their new product cycle plan, but by not producing IE 7 for Windows 2000, Microsoft is cutting of 48% of the Windows market. Of course, Microsoft, with its usual sensitivity toward its customers, is telling customers that they should have switched to Windows XP four years ago even if the just finished upgrading to Windows 2000 this year.

Of course many IT technicians responded that the same reason to upgrade is also the same reason to migrate. Some pointed to Ernie Ball( http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html?tag=lh), a man whose business got raided by federal marshals when an ex-employee reported to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Microsoft that Ernie Ball’s company, Sterling Ball, didn’t have its software licenses up-to-date. Ernie Ball had to pay Microsoft $90,000 in legal expenses to avoid a lawsuit. Ernie Ball went open source. Ernie Ball moved from Microsoft Windows to Linux, Microsoft Office to OpenOffice, Microsoft Outlook to Evolution, and Microsoft IE to Mozilla.

Microsoft’s goal for releasing IE 7 was to stop the hemorrhaging of Windows users from IE 6 to Mozilla Firefox. By not supporting half of their user base, Microsoft is not only pushing more people toward Firefox for security, Microsoft is also pushing people away from the Windows operating system toward Linux as well.

On the search for an alternative Operating System (OS) for my PC, I found Ubuntu, a distro of Debian Linux, at http://www.ubuntulinux.org. The Debian Linux was the version of Linux that some thought in 2000 could take on Microsoft and replace Windows on PC’s. The experts would have been right if the Debian crowd wasn’t made up of hobbyist programmers who love to write code but don’t produce many polished final products. The Ubuntu group takes whatever unfinished release of Debian Linux exists at six month intervals and polishes and finishes it.

The desktop is very clean. There is no plethora of options leaving the desktop for work only. Actually, there are four desktops. Each desktop can be selected from the bottom task bar so one can have multiple programs going without them cluttering one desktop.

The upper task bar is well arranged. One can easily select from programs, places, preferences, and systems in the four different directories without trying to trudge through one Start menu. The setup is fairly intuitive.

The program selection is quite good also decent. Ubuntu has Mozilla Firefox web browser, Evolution email client, and OpenOffice Suite among many, many other programs. Ubuntu also has an expansive screensaver collection with some humorous screensavers like a “Flying Toasters” remake and “Matrix” screen.

It was founded by Mark Shuttleworth, who got to go into space for $20 million. His belief in a free and open software system is an interesting take on technology. Mark Shuttleworth spent $10 million to get Ubuntu off the ground.

I have tried Ubuntu’s Live CD version, which runs from a 700 MB CD in a CD drive instead of installing on the hard drive, and it is sweet. A complete version of Microsoft Windows could never run from a CD. This is what makes Ubuntu Linux so cool, it is small, compact, and can work with system you have without any huge upgrade requirements or buying into new technology. Definitely worth trying and definitely worth considering for a stand alone or dual boot. Go to http://www.ubuntulinux.org for more information.

I’ve been reading up on Microsoft’s next Windows Operating System (OS) codenamed “Longhorn” in this article http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,121435,00.asp . This OS is to be released in 2006, though according to some in the know, it was suppose to have been released in 2001 and that Windows XP was a stop-gap because Microsoft couldn’t get “Longhorn” off the ground. Also Windows XP64 is considered a stop-gap of a stop-gap because Microsoft has had so many difficulties programming “Longhorn”.

“Longhorn” requires 512 MB’s of memory to start up. This is astronomically high considering Windows 98 required 64 MB’s to start up, Windows NT and Windows 2000 required 128 MB’s, and Windows XP also required 128 MB’s to start up (though the minimum recommended for Windows XP on techie sites was 184 MB’s). There is already speculation that “Longhorn” will require 2 GB’s to 4 GB’s or even 8 GB’s to function properly. This is a monstrous amount of RAM since 98 could run with 128 MB’s, Windows NT and Windows 2000 could work well with 256 MB’s, and Windows XP could run properly with 512 MB’s of RAM. (Note: 1,000 MB’s=1 GB)

Furthermore, “Longhorn” requires a modern graphics card to run its Avalon graphics engine for screen effects. Microsoft is including Avalon to compete with Apple’s OS 10 graphics effects even though Apple doesn’t need a graphics engine or a modern graphics card to run screen effects. Besides, who ever heard of an OS needing a graphics engine like a PC game such as DOOM, Quake, or Half Life especially when Windows XP, Apple, and Linux run perfectly fine with out it? On top of it all to meet their self-imposed 2006 deadline, Microsoft won’t even ship the WinFS file system, which is to replace the Win32 file system Microsoft has used since Windows 95. Paying full price for a partial OS sounds like a bad deal to me.

Besides I read this old article on the Internet, http://www.devx.com/DevX/Article/17899, and it sounds like Microsoft is ripping off the Open Source and Free Software movements and calling it proprietary. Mozilla has been using the setup Microsoft wants switch to and Mozilla can do it cross multiple OS’s without being bloated or slow.

If Microsoft is going to scavenge other people’s ideas, why can’t it take security ideas? Linux creator Linus Torvald added security features to the Linux kernel he just released such as an “address space randomization” to make it harder for virus writers to write viruses to attack Linux ( http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121531,00.asp). Right now, “Longhorn” is only as secure as Windows XP SP2.

The only reason I’m not happy is because when I was working in a computer lab, I talked with a professor, who was one of the beta testers for Windows XP. He gave it rave reviews and said that XP was the system to wait for and not to even consider Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows 2000. For the most part he was right, aside from critical and chronic security flaws, it is one of the best OS’s Microsoft has produced. The reviews of “Longhorn” are far less encouraging and this doesn’t bode well for the final product.

Update: Windows “Longhorn” officially named Windows Vista.

StumbleUpon is the greatest extension for Mozilla Firefox ever. Sick of going to the same websites day after day-StumbleUpon. Can’t google any good websites-StumbleUpon. Looking for the interesting side of the Internet-StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon is a random search engine powered by your interests and the interests of others. With a single click of the StumbleUpon toolbar, you can see a random website. Some are interesting and some are boring and you can vote with a thumbs up or down on the tool bar and then move on at your leisure. If you have Firefox and are connected to the Internet, go into Tools, then go to Extensions, and in the Extensions screen, click with the mouse pointer on the blue text at the bottom that says “Get More Extensions”. This will bring up the Extensions page and then you can just search this page for the StumbleUpon extension.

The following are a collection of Websites I have found with StumbleUpon:

• BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Body - Senses Challenge


• I Can't Stop Thinking!


• Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies


• Murphy Laws Site


• the epicentre conversions


• 712.swf


• timeline.swf


• THE ZOOMQUILT


• THEIR CIRCULAR LIFE


• Essential Fonts For Designers


• INDUSTORIOUS CLOCK


• InternetFrog.com


• Capitalism and Cows


• Molecular Expressions


• dtoy_vs_byokal


• Openwares.org


• bubblewrap.swf


• A Path to a Better Mind and Body


• Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: science news, science and technology coverage, science trivia, experts, books and more


• Fractal World Gallery Thumbnails


• esao


• "Museums of the Mind"


• antcity.swf


• BILLY HARVEY MUSIC


• 25 Great Calvin & Hobbes Strips


• Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart


• Software Engineering Proverbs


• DNS Stuff: DNS tools, DNS hosting tests, WHOIS, tracert, ping, and other network and domain name tools.


• An introduction to Quantum Computing


• Beginner's Tutorial - Introduction


• Rockmine


• paper cd case

Firefox is the best browser that I have had the pleasure of using. It is such an innovation in the web browsing experience that it blows away the competition. In this part, I will talk about what really won me over.

First, I will cover why I turned away from Internet Explorer (IE). IE 6.0, with or without the XP Service Pack 2, is an aging piece of failing software. IE 6.0 was last truly updated in 2000 and it shows. The IE engine is slow to load and render webpages. Not only is it slow to render webpages, it can’t handle or support modern W3C standards for webpages like Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Also IE offers an outdated Internet experience with the one webpage per browser window causing the Windows task bar to be filled up with open browser windows.

Furthermore, IE has ActiveX and Active Scripting, both of which create open hooks into your computer system for virus writers and adware/spyware creators to automatically download dangerous and disruptive programs into your system. This creates an unnecessary vulnerability in the system. To compound this vulnerability and add insult to injury, IE is not just integrated with the Windows operating system (OS), it is bolted to the Windows OS. To be integrated, the browser would work well with and share necessary information with the OS. But IE is bolted to the Windows OS, this means that the Windows OS can open IE and IE can open the Windows OS allowing any malice software that can hook into the Active X or Active Scripting in IE to directly attack the Windows OS. With all these flaws, US CERT, the American agency with Homeland Security, stated in June 2004 that it would be best to "use a different browser". This warning no longer applies to XP Service Pack 2 equipped PCs but any Windows-based PC that could not get XP Service Pack 2 should not go on the Internet with IE.

Microsoft still hasn’t improved its patching system. Microsoft has been known to test for six months after a flaw is found, security firms have to prod Microsoft to make patches by making public announcements about the flaw thus revealing the flaws existence to virus writers, and Microsoft waits to do patches in monthly cycles even if the patch is ready weeks before. Microsoft’s laissez-faire attitude to patches is dangerous in this on-demand, 24-7 world where virus writers never sleep.

So what does Firefox have that IE doesn’t? To answer in one word: Lots!

First, Firefox is a modern browser. It is continually updated and right now is at Version 1.0.4 with Version 1.1 set for June and versions 1.5 and 2.0 set for later this year and into next year. Firefox quickly loads and renders webpages. No waiting for Firefox as it zooms through the Internet without choking. Firefox also has a modern Internet experience with tabs. Allowing multiple webpages to be open in one browser window may not seem like much at first, but when you don’t have to go crawling through your task bar for the right browser window that has the webpage you’re interested in, life gets that much less complicated. Also, Firefox has a “find bar” instead of a “find window”. When you hit CTRL+F in IE the browsing experience stops as IE brings up a window in front of the browser for you to type in a word. When you hit CTRL+F in Firefox, a small bar opens up at the bottom of the tab and begins searching for the word as you type it in. Firefox is up on all the W3C standards and properly renders webpages.

Second, Firefox has great security. The Open Source movement, which the Mozilla Foundation is a part of, has never promised perfect security nor that their product will never be compromised by hackers and viruses. That said, Firefox has greater security than IE. Firefox doesn’t have ActiveX or Active Scripting and therefore can’t run any virus or adware/spyware that use ActiveX or Active Scripting (which most all do). Firefox is a separate program from the Windows OS, which means that malice programs can’t attack Windows through Firefox. Furthermore, the Mozilla Foundation usually puts out patches within one to two weeks of a flaw being found.

Third, Firefox is an open source product. Open source products allow anybody to view and work on the source code. This is different from a proprietary product like IE, which only allows Microsoft employees to view and work with the source code. While Microsoft only has so many employees working for it to create and repair IE’s source code, Mozilla has a whole world of volunteers to create and repair Firefox. This leads to many programmers not only improving the core code but also creating useful extensions to make Firefox more functional and interesting.


When all is said and done, Firefox blows IE out of the water in every way, shape, and form.

I have a Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird plug on my website at http://studentweb.uwstout.edu/gallistelk/mysite/firethunder.htm. I have a list of articles that might be of interest there.

Firefox is the best browser that I have had the pleasure of using. Before I talk about Firefox, I would like to show that I’m not just dedicated to Firefox for its own sake and that I have been open minded with browsers. If you don’t care to hear about my history with browsers, just skip down to Part 2. First, I will give a little history of my use of browsers.

I started out using Netscape and at first it was good. Regrettably, this did not last. Netscape 4.7 was an embarrassment. It would freeze up the Internet connection so badly that I would have to restart the computer to reconnect to the Internet. To make matters worse, Netscape couldn’t really run Flash or Shockwave files even with a plug-in. Netscape apparently fixed that problem, but then became bloatware trying to package more and more into one system. The size and the glitches made Netscape too unbearable to use. I then switched to Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). At first I didn’t want to as I didn’t and don’t have good luck with Microsoft products, but Internet Explorer 3.0/4.0 were excellent products. In fact, IE was such a good product that I used it up till March 2004.

Then I heard the former host of the late TechTV series “Call for Help” and “The Screen Savers”, Leo Laporte, talking about this cool new browser called the Mozilla Suite. The Mozilla Suite was made by the Mozilla Foundation from an open source version of Netscape code that Netscape released before AOL bought up the Netscape company. The Mozilla Suite was good, but not great. It was an all-in-one solution but that was also its shortfall. It was a web browser, but it had difficulty running Flash or Shockwave files. It was an email client, but it had to start everything besides the email client to run the email client. It had a chat client, but I don’t “do” chat. It had an HTML editor on it, but I didn’t see the need for one with so many other, separate programs out their. The Mozilla Suite was just bloatware with a browser attached. While on the Mozilla Foundation website I found Firefox.

At first I thought Firefox was just a browser-only version of the Mozilla Suite. Then I realized that Firefox had a different feel than the Mozilla Suite. It was sleeker and newer than the Mozilla Suite. Even though at the time Firefox was a beta at Version 0.7 and Mozilla Suite was at Version 1.5, Firefox was more functional and more versatile in its ability to play Flash and Shockwave files and Firefox could open and run more webpages than Mozilla Suite, especially Microsoft-proprietary webpages that were designed to be IE only. The Mozilla Suite felt like Netscape with less of the things that made Netscape bad, so I didn’t notice much difference between Mozilla Suite and IE. Firefox, on the other hand, was such a leap forward that I realized just how clunky and out-of-date IE was.

In Part 2, I will discuss what Firefox has that won me over.

but between the rash of strong thunderstorms in my area and having to do tech work on my computer in between them, I just haven’t had the time update either my website or my blog. I plan on making up for lost time this week.