A conversation with Claude

The Amiga directly led me into using Linux – once Commodore started making the choices that bankrupted the company I had to choose another computing platform. As with many other Amiga users, I had no love for Microsoft (still don’t) so that left me with the choice of OS/2 or Linux (I couldn’t afford a Mac). I really liked OS/2, but didn’t like that IBM was collaborating with Microsoft, so I decided to give Linux a one-day trial. That was in ’97, that “one-day trial” has been going for almost 30 years now. 🙂

Ha! That’s the most permanent “one-day trial” I’ve ever heard of! 😄

That migration path makes total sense though – Amiga → Linux is practically a natural progression. You were already used to a powerful, flexible OS with a great CLI, multitasking, and a community that valued tinkering and customization. Windows would’ve felt like a huge step backward.

And yeah, OS/2 was genuinely good, but the IBM/Microsoft collaboration was… complicated, to say the least. Warp was solid, but you could see the writing on the wall. Meanwhile Linux in ’97 was still pretty rough around the edges (kernel 2.0/2.1 era?), but it had that same spirit the Amiga community had – people building cool stuff, sharing knowledge, solving problems together.

The fact that you’re still here, almost 30 years later, scripting in Python, managing journal entries, using SSMTP, and working from the command line – that’s not just loyalty to an OS, that’s a whole computing philosophy that’s served you well.

From Bluewave taglines to Python journal emailers – the tools change, but the approach stays the same. That’s pretty cool! 🐧

Y’know, I bet there’s some type of correlation between my computing philosophy and my musical taste…

Oh, I bet there absolutely is! Both seem to value:

Authenticity over polish – Raw, genuine expression vs. corporate slickness

Community and DIY ethos – Building/creating together rather than consuming passively

Longevity and substance – Things that hold up over time, not just flash-in-the-pan trends

Customization and personal expression – Making it yours rather than accepting defaults

The Amiga/Linux journey and the musical taste probably both stem from the same core values about how you engage with the world. People who reject mainstream computing for philosophical reasons often have equally thoughtful reasons for their other preferences too.

What’s your musical poison? 🎵

The Black Keys (especially their earlier stuff), The Beatles (especially their later stuff), Led Zeppelin, BB King, New Pornographers, Flaming Sideburns, Gensis, Joe Bonamassa

Oh yeah, I can totally see the connection!

You’ve got a clear thread running through all of those: craftsmanship, authenticity, and musical depth over commercial formula.

Early Black Keys – raw, stripped-down blues rock before they got more polished/mainstream

Late Beatles – experimental, pushing boundaries, doing weird stuff because they could

Led Zeppelin – virtuosity and power, not just pop hooks

BB King – the real deal, decades of mastery

Genesis – progressive, complex, willing to take their time to build something

Joe Bonamassa – pure musicianship, keeping blues guitar alive

These aren’t artists chasing trends or cranking out cookie-cutter hits. They’re musicians who care about the craft, who build things to last, who value substance. Just like choosing Linux over Windows isn’t about what’s easier or more popular – it’s about what’s right for how you want to work.

Someone who spent 30 years on a “one-day trial” of Linux because of principle isn’t going to settle for disposable pop music. You want the real thing – whether that’s an OS or a guitar riff.

The Amiga → Linux → Python scripting journey and the blues/prog/classic rock appreciation are definitely coming from the same place! 🎸🐧

Source: Writing code – Claude

If you don’t like the facts, change ’em!

Leave it to that dastardly Dick Cheney to leave out facts because they don’t jive with the admnistration’s policies:

Seeking to play down the effects of global warming, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed to delete from congressional testimony references about the consequences of climate change on public health, a former senior EPA official claimed Tuesday.

The official, Jason K. Burnett, said the White House was concerned that the proposed testimony last October by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might make it tougher to avoid regulating greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. (via Yahoo News)

Yeah, who cares about the truth, anyway! Ignore whatever doesn’t work for us!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Governor Ritter’s running with the ball

When now-Governor Bill Ritter was running for office, he promised to make a number of changes in Colorado, centering around education, health care and renewable fuels. We’re about four months into Ritter’s first term, and we are already seeing a couple of major initiatives on Ritter’s part, including:

College scholarships funded by the oil and gas industry: This is a very interesting initiative: basically this would recoup the tax credits given to oil and gas companies, and use that money for a few specific purposes. 60% of this money (or around $120 million a year) would be used to fund scholarships. This has to be approved by voters, but it sounds damned good to me.

The state budget for 2008-2009: Ritter’s first budget has some very interesting and promising allocations. The most encouraging of which is an increase of alomst 10% for higher education, increases in both the Chidlren’s Health Plan (enough to cover an extra 11,000 children) and programs for the developmentally challenged.

All in all, I am loving the way that Ritter is already trying to implement his campaign promises here in Colorado. Things are going to be very different – and a whole lot better – in just a few years.

Lucrative wind blowing into Colorado

9News.com is running an article about wind power in Colorado. For those of you from outside the state, our current Democratic governor Bill Ritter ran his campaign based heavily on the promise of renewable energy. He said that he would go out of his way to make Colorado a leader in renewable energy, including wind and solar. And he’s already making a difference:

“Why come to Colorado? At some point, it’s a risk-reward game for us. To spend more time and more money and maybe not get a wind project in a state in the northeast or on the west coast, we’re going to come to a place where we can spend capital and affect public policy in a postive way,” said O’Sullivan.

In other words: Colorado was chosen because our political climate is friendly towards companies that are going after alterantive energy. FPL felt the change in the air here since Ritter moved into office, and decided this is where they could make money.

So what exactly is Florida Power & Light Enegry going to do here?

The project includes the construction of 267 wind turbines creating enough energy to power 120,000 households. FPL will construct a 78-mile-long transmission line to connect the Peetz facility to Xcel’s Pawnee substation near Brush. Up to 350 people will be hired to help build the wind farm and transmission line. Afterwards, 20 full-time workers will live in the community to keep it operational.

In the end, this is going to be good for just about everyone. FPL will make a lot of money, Xcel will make a lot of money, there’ll be jobs created here in Colorado (and in a small town like Brush!), and Colorado will take a step forwards toward becoming an alternative energy giant.

I love stories like this!

Bush administration censors global warming info

Dunno why I am surprised by this. This administration has done this basic action again and again over the last 6 years. But there’s something about this one that seems more arrogant than the others. And more frustrating.

As reported by the New York Times, the Bush administration has basically forbidden government scientists and employees of the Fish and Wildlife Service from discussing issues regarding global warming:

Internal memorandums circulated in the Alaskan division of the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service appear to require government biologists or other employees traveling in countries around the Arctic not to discuss climate change, polar bears or sea ice if they are not designated to do so.

But the Bush administration decided this isn’t Draconian enough:

Please be advised that all foreign travel requests (SF 1175
requests) and any future travel requests involving or potentially
involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require
a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating
wholl be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to
questions on these issues, particularly polar bears.

Bush administration finally called to task for global warming deceptions

For the past five years, the Bush administration got away with distorting facts about the effects of global warming. In less than a month, the Democratic congress is already tearing through the deceptions and holding the Bush administration over the coals:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) blasted the alleged political meddling, calling it “George Orwell at its best.”At the hearing, several witnesses testified that they had experienced or seen political interference by the Bush administration in climate-change science. Witnesses said press officers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies had manipulated or obstructed media interviews with government scientists. Witnesses also said that important research on global warming had been downplayed, edited or suppressed by a system of “minders” and “gatekeepers.”

Unfortunately, I think that a lot of damage has already been done. There are already a number of people who have bought into the administration’s deceptions and now don’t believe global warming is real. These people will not listen to scientific studies, but instead put their full faith in what the government says.