I started out having used Kubuntu, the KDE flavor of Ubuntu. I’m ashamed to say I switched to it for the Plasma widgets.

But I noticed that it was a memory hog, and I read a quote regarding KDE: It’s like snow – it’s pretty sometimes, but after a short time I just want someone to take it all away.¹ So I ditched that and went to a minimal-install version of plain Ubuntu. I used this for several years, in fact at one point completely removing Windows. It’s morphed, though, into a much larger thing, which is not always good. Its user base has also morphed into something like… well, something² really annoying. And sometimes dumb.

A major part of being a Linux user is, after all, the user base, so I dumped that and went to Crunchbang (#!) Linux. It’s a derivative of Ubuntu, which means I got the same ease of use in a much smaller package. I loved it, but Ubuntu has a fixed-release model like that of both Windows and Mac OS. Certain parts are updated constantly, but the distribution overall is not until some appointed day when you go and get (at some retailer for Windows, some white plastic Kaaba for Apple, and your CD burner for Linux) the new version. And Crunchbang — which is developed by one dude — is a version behind.

I really liked the minimalist concept though, so I decided to give Arch Linux a shot. It’s a bit more work than those others, but I’ve managed to get an environment similar to the Crunchbang environment I had before I switched, in a still smaller package. I’m an Arch convert.

And hopefully, I’ll return to posting more often.

1. Incidentally, I feel this way about Apple crap.
2. If only there were some American phenomenon recently, some recognizeable thing that affects us all, that I could compare it to…

President Obama ordered his aides on Thursday “to get to work immediately with Congress” to develop “a forceful response” to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. In a statement, the President denounced the decision, saying it “has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics.” It was obvious, therefore, that he was interested in working with Congress to overturn the decision, or at least to narrow it significantly.

Unless he has in mind an amendment to the Constitution, however, it is most unclear at this point whether the lawmakers could do anything — or much of anything — to cut down on “special interest money” in American politics. This was a constitutional decision, laying down (essentially for the first time), a sweeping free-speech right in politics for “special interest” bodies of all types with the concept of “speech” clearly embracing spending money to influence election outcomes. If individuals have considerable freedom to express themselves politically, corporations, labor unions, and other “special interest” entities now do, too.

In Washington and today pretty much everywhere else, “Special interest” = “people who refuse to donate to me or my favored causes”. Naturally, the Court decided to leave a little bit of onion dip in the un-Constitutional bowl and not strike down McCain-Feingold in its entirety. rofl.

Which brings us to… a challenger for Feingold? One out of two ain’t bad. rofl.

State Attorney General begs judiciary not to order state to spend money it doesn’t have on things that won’t do any good. rofl.

Kansas governor’s race: You know what – all I need is a reason to like Tom Holland. His record’s a decent one in my book. I’m just in such a dark place in my heart right now that I don’t want to support anything “progressives” support. If anyone needs protection at just this moment in history, it’s from them. I’m sure that one speech by Sam Brownback will cause me to snap out of it, though. rofl.

I thought I would be hungry all the time, but to tell the truth I don’t miss the extra calories. I eat a fairly small breakfast since I like to sleep in. Then I’ll have a Kashi bar or a handful of almonds at 10:00, a salad from the company cafeteria at 11:30, another bar at 2:30, and dinner around six depending on whether I stay late to work or work out.

By the way, I use CRON-o-meter to track all this stuff. It’s open source and comes in all three flavors (I of course have the Linux version). You can add your own foods and recipes if you pay attention to labels. Hell, I’ll even give you my created stuff if you like.

Then, something cheap and easy comes along, and I’m nothing if not cheap and easy. Our friend Pat Robertson returns to comment once again on the degree to which a truly benighted² people — which, I’ll add, are 95% Roman Catholic:

Robertson, the host of the “700 Club,” blamed the tragedy on something that “happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.”

The Haitians “were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever,” Robertson said on his broadcast Wednesday. “And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ ”

Native Haitians defeated French colonists in 1804 and declared independence.

“You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

I really think no more needs to be said after that. Here’s to you, Pat:

1. and failing
2. and misgoverned//oppressed