A Pilgrim's Journal

Instead of merely showing the impossibility of it, Paul goes into great detail on how you would actually accomplish this. And not just for one week, not just for a month, but for as long as you need. He includes details on stores to visit in the Kitchener Downtown area, and how to bootstrap your menu if you actually have nothing in the cupboard to begin with.

I am still quite behind in my reading of the classics and have not read Pickwick yet, so I figured watching a DVD would give me a good bird's eye view.

The first 6 or 7 episodes were ok, but felt like an aimless rambling through the countryside, with Mr. Pickwick running into more and more troubles. At points, I was truly worried for Mr. Pickwick's well-being, since he didn't seem swift enough to protect himself from those who would take advantage of him.

But the last quarter of the series is where it really picks up. The apparent bumbling takes on new meaning as just the backdrop of normal life for a man who takes an interesting turn. His stubbornness yet kindhearted character are revealed in a stronger contrast than anyone expects, and a purpose to the man's life is shown, which was hidden in plain sight all along.

It also shows that even though the need may be huge, and the desire to help may be there, the resources to produce massive change may not be. But that is no excuse to stop giving. It merely constrains one's giving to those you have immediate access to.

It's a story of fun, foolishness, friendship, forgiveness, and family. If you have the time, grab it at your local library.

Under about:config, set network.dns.disableIPv6 to true.

I've been experimenting with Debian Squeeze on an older T40 Thinkpad, and I've been noticing some disturbing trends. Trends that I probably haven't noticed since I haven't had hardware that new, and have been fairly happy using xterms and make on Debian Lenny.

I'm noticing a divergence between the command line and the GUI... a divergence that is horrifying. I installed the base system, got WiFi going using /etc/network/interfaces, and was happy. Then I installed the GUI, and my carefully configured network stopped working. The GUI had its own way to configure things. Yes, the GUI worked, if it was allowed to operate by itself, but that's not the point. Why have two? Why break one to make the other work? I still don't know where the GUI stores its network settings. They sure don't show up in the /etc config files.

Divergence #2: DNS works snappy from the command line, but somehow Firefox labours to find Google, or Slashdot, even though it was just there a few minutes ago. Really? This is 2010. I poke around the network with tcpdump to see what on God's green earth Firefox is doing. And it's looking up DNS entries for a tab I'm not even on.

Look, I know IPv6 is the next big thing, but don't turn it on unless it has zero impact on what people need right now. Let me easily choose which network has priority. And give me one place to set it. Not two. Not five. One.

So I say goodbye to Firefox and load Mozilla.. the ancient browser... it's worked for me in the past. Maybe it will be too old to fail. I load my home page, and watch the network with tcpdump. I see it going through the page, looking up DNS for all the links. Great, I think, at least it will be cached for me. I click on some links. A little better at first, but soon goes downhill. Still more forgetful than an Alzheimer's patient.

Why is it so hard to get networking working in 2010? My friend went through this with Ubuntu back in 2007, and it didn't work right. At least now it sort of hobbles along, but back then, NetworkManager only managed to dig itself a grave.

Enough about networks: my laptop is fairly old, and the battery is getting flakey. This is to be expected, I don't mind, the battery is still useful for an hour or two, and I'm happy. So I load up Gnome and work away on the battery. The icon shows me the battery discharge progress. Then it gets to the point where the battery is low. It pops up a gigantic black notification message, over top of other windows, telling me this. Fine. Thanks, I guess. Go away now. Then it gets critically low, and shows me another one. Ok ok, I get it, calm down. Then it alternates back and forth between low and critical. I even saw two notification messages on the screen at once... hiding other windows that I needed! And there is no way to turn these off! Unbelievable. Do I have to hack the code to get rid of these monstrosities? Why not just warn me once and let me deal with the consequences? Why pester me and assume I have no brain? I know the battery is low. I know that means I have 30 minutes of power left. Stop telling me what I already know!

Does every poor end user need to download some Gnome C code, and hack around in the code to figure out how to tune the system? I've already had to do it once to figure out how to disable automatic Suspend mode, when the GUI helpfully left that option off the menu. Now again for notifications? Good grief on a stick!

Poor Linux. Everybody running around the system, coding their own little kingdoms in their own little sandboxes, and the distros are including it as if it was something stable for end users. The kernel guys do one thing, the udev guys do another, the hotplugging notification guys do something else, the GUI guys do yet more (in multiple different ways, of course), and the user tries to push a rope uphill, suffering with a very busy but confused system crippled by lack of configuration options in the menus.

Dear programmers: the first setting you should code in your next fancy new feature is how to turn the bloody thing off.

Kids being kids, they promptly start to obey, but soon forget the details in their exuberance for life. Soon there is running, which causes some fine china to break. One child takes the other's toy or book, and crying ensues. Chores are left for later, and the house is a mess. When you arrive on the scene and question them about it, they deny any wrong doing. When the logic hits them and they see you can't be fooled, they start pointing fingers at each other, making sure you know that the other is the worse.

When you confront your children of their error, what behaviour would you rather see?

Suppose you are a judge, listening to a divorce case. The case is rather brutal, and you've had to use your gavel a number of times when the husband and wife cannot contain themselves and start shouting at each other across the aisle. You hear many stories, some inflated, some true, of infidelity, ignorance, backstabbing, and revenge. Each spouse knows their partner's faults by heart, but are blind to their own.

During the trial, what realization would you rather see?

Suppose you are driving to work. You're a little late, so you're speeding, but still being careful. You roll through some of the stop signs on the way, but you don't put anyone in danger.

While cruising down the highway, you look over to the car next to you and see someone talking on their cell phone. As they pass you, they turn on their signal and nearly cut you off, trying to get to the exit that they almost missed. Muttering under your breath, you swing out into the passing lane to avoid this unconscious driver. As you do, another car catches up to you and begins tailgating you, flashing his lights urgently trying to get you to pull over. There is about a foot of space between your bumper and his.

The stress takes over and you lose it, tapping the brakes and slowing down steadily, trying to teach this guy a lesson. You make sure that there are cars beside you so he cannot pass, slowing down to a crawl, while he creeps ever closer to your back bumper, lights on highbeam.

In this series of driving infractions, what realization should you have kept in mind?

Suppose you are a king, and you have a servant who owes you 10 million dollars. You summon him before you, and demand that he repay at least 25% of the amount owing. You remind him that he hasn't made a single payment since he borrowed the sum. He confesses to you that he doesn't have that much yet, but if you would be patient, he is sure that his business strategy will turn around and he will be able to pay you in full. You suspect that his business strategy is not going so well, and you note that he has already built himself a nice house, taking care of himself before his debts. So you give the order that his house, his car, his pool, his bank account, and his business be sold to pay the debt in full.

This command obviously shocks him, and he falls down on his knees, begging and pleading for mercy. He pleads with you that his wife and family would leave him if he became destitute, and he confesses that he has not managed this debt properly. He begs for a little more time.

You recall that he has always been a friend of the crown, and while his money management skills are lacking, his other qualities do shine at the right time. A wave of mercy overtakes you, and you cancel the entire 10 million dollar debt and send him on his way.

Overjoyed, he thanks you profusely, and leaves your palace with a spring in his step, a lightness of heart, and a hope for the future. He determines that he will never, ever, ever get himself into such debt again, and he rushes home and takes stock of his finances. He sees that one of his employees, his limo driver, owes him $1,000 for an old beat up car he had to buy in order to get to work. The man stands on his front steps, and meets his driver, holding up the I.O.U. and demanding payment. The driver pleads for more time, saying that he barely has enough to pay all his bills, but he is making progress, and will pay it all off as soon as he can. This doesn't satisfy him, though, and he fires the driver, and claims the jalopy as payment for the debt.

When you hear of this, as the king, what would you rather have seen?

And finally, suppose you are a Jew, a Muslim, or a Christian. Your holy book, which you read faithfully every day, contains great wisdom. It tells you how to live, how society should behave. It tells you how to treat your neighbour, and how your neighbour should treat you. It tells you the consequences for not living right, and sometimes even tells you the punishment that should be inflicted on those who do wrong. You try very hard to live by these rules, these laws. Your life is a glowing example. You give to the poor, you pay your debts, you tithe to your synagogue or mosque or church. You wear the right clothes, you say the right things, and you are confident and almost proud of your achievement. And while you know in your heart that you don't keep all the rules perfectly (but really, who can?), you content yourself that you're doing pretty well, overall.

You see in your same congregation another man who is not so successful at living the Jewish / Muslim / Christian life. This man drinks a little too much, has a lot of debt, gets fired from his job, or maybe even cheats on his wife. He has suffered a lot of embarrassment, when his faults become obvious to all. He keeps quiet, and doesn't talk much about his faith, due to the shame of his own failures.

One day, this man does something shocking. Maybe he steals from you. Or maybe he is found in a brothel, or with your wife. Whatever it is, his shame is complete, and his fellow Jews / Muslims / Christians are shocked, horrified, and tell him he needs to get his act together. They point to the scriptures from their holy books, and show him how he has sinned, how he has failed to live up to God's standards. Some even stay away from him.

You realize that you haven't obeyed your holy book perfectly either, but you burn with judgment against your fellow man, especially because he has injured you somehow, by stealing or adultery.

As all this is going on in your congregation, and you are doing your best to be forgiving, another congregation from a different Jewish, Muslim, or Christian sect publically claims to denounce your beliefs as wrong, and decides to burn your holy books on a special day. This infuriates you, and you get your fellow men together and decide to burn their holy books as well, and their flag. What follows is much back and forth, shouting, burning, and possibly looting.

As God looks down on all this, what do you think He would rather see?

If you are a child in the wrong, does it make sense to accuse your brother? If you are an unfaithful spouse, does it make sense to judge your wife or husband harshly? If you are in debt, does it make sense to encourage faster repayment conditions? If you are a criminal, does it make sense to demand the harshest punishment for other criminals?

And if you are a sinner, does it make sense to demand that God judge and punish other sinners, even if they sin again you?

If there is such a thing as mercy, and there is, then it should be the flag we wave the highest. If we are all in the same sinking boat, then mercy is the bail we use to empty the water out of the bottom.

Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865