Talia’s Social Commentary Blog

I know that this blog isn’t really a personal one, but can I just plug my amazing fiancé who has once again supported me financially, this time more then he usually does. I haven’t been given any hours at my work for nearly 3 months now, and the only reason I have survived once my savings ran out was through his generous gifts of money each week, and the same from my parents.
I wouldn’t be able to survive without you all, so thank you. I will one day pay you back, if it’s not with money, then I’ll find other ways. I love you three so much (Luke, Mum and Dad), thanks for everything.

MWA!

Installing Ubuntu should be as easy as one, two, three. One being click this link and download it, two being run the installation, and three being start using Ubuntu.
As we all know though, things don’t necessarily go as smoothly as they should. My first Ubuntu experience was difficult, and perhaps a little original, so I thought I would document it here.

The process started when my fiancé brought me the Ubuntu disk. This is one of the easiest, and definitely the cheapest way to get Ubuntu. It’s free. And you don’t need to download it.
However, this is where my problems started. My computer is old, and for one reason or another, the CD drive no longer works. Its sucks, I know, and it has caused me much grief. I searched a little while on the internet and found that I could download it. Due to my poor internet plan, downloading it would have sent me way over my limit, and so it really wasn’t worth it. I waited and downloaded it at my fiancé’s house, on his bill.

This could have, and should have been simple, except that we thought it would be a good idea to have a working copy of Windows on my 30 gig hard drive as well- for the programs Ubuntu doesn’t support. My main concern was not being able to use iTunes and Market Maker. The external hard drive I had attached wasn’t being picked up at start up, no matter what we tried, but when I accidentally bumped the computer the disk started to install. For a second.

My computer was taken apart by my more than capable fiancé in the hope of getting to the CD drive to tighten some loose wires. It didn’t get that far- my Toshiba is incredibly hard to take fully apart. We were late for a party anyway, and so we took a rest.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!” he said the next morning, “Why don’t we just use someone else’s computer with a working CD drive and put your Hard drive into it!”
I couldn’t think of a reason, and it sounded like it would work, so that’s what we did.

All the laptops at my house had a trip to my fiancé’s hands (where all broken technology must go to be repaired) which meant that my computer, and every other laptop at my house was taken apart and hard drives swapped. Hayden and Amon’s computers didn’t work because they was too slow, and therefore too stressful to use. Rhys’, however, did. He freaked out when he saw his computer missing it’s insides – we forgot to ask permission – but I bribed him with a book that he has been desperately seeking and all was forgiven and forgotten.

The installation worked after a while, and our slip up then was that we ran the set up and so it configured Ubuntu to the settings on RHYS’ computer, not mine. Easily fixed though – and thank God it was, because I think I would have thrown my computer out the window if it hadn’t have been.

So that was my first Ubuntu experience. Not as enjoyable, or as easy as it should have been- but an experience none the less. I feel a lot smarter having had a hand (even if it was a very small one) in all of this taking apart computers and installing new operating systems. My experience with Ubuntu after this though has been nothing but incredibly enjoyable. I am loving Ubuntu and all it has to offer. There are certainly a few things to get use to, but I am up to it, and looking forward to that challenge.

Look for future blogs about Windows vs. Ubuntu and Getting Use To Ubuntu. Should be good fun. :-)

Remember your first day of school? I hardly remember any of mine anymore, but I do remember today. Today was my first day of Prep.

Since the Queensland Government first started talking about replacing Preschool with Prep in 2003/2004 it has been the subject of much debate throughout the State. I was always anti-prep, mostly because I saw it as a huge waste of time and money from the Government, as the whole reason other states, like Victoria, have Prep is as a ‘go between’ year. If Preschoolers aren’t ready for Year 1, they go to Prep.

The beauty of Preschool was the fact that it was only half the week, and sometimes not even full days. Now, while Prep is not enforceable as full time, this is what Education Queensland has to say about those children who don’t want to attend full time.

Part-time attendance has the potential to significantly limit continuity of learning, and may also interfere with the development of positive social interactions, friendships, independence and confidence in the school environment.

If everyone else at Prep is attending full time, then this is right, it will, but if you’re increasing the age you have to be to get into Prep, then what is there left for the children born after June?
This is the main problem with the Prep year, and it something that has angered many parents.

To be honest, the curriculum sounds great. Learning through play, inquiry based learning, etc. These are all great ways to teach kid, and children that age get a lot out of learning like that. Really, that philosophy and those teaching methods should be carried out not just in early childhood years and primary school, but is secondary as well. It could be very beneficial. “Real World Learning”, it has a ring to it, and reminisces to a few different courses available when I was in high school.

Prep should definitely be about preparing students for year 1. They need preparation for a big step like that!
But the Queensland Government has gone about Prep the wrong way. Shorter days or weeks at the beginning of the year would be a big help. My Preppies today were exhausted and were begging me to have a rest. We gave up after a while and spent the last hour or more of the day laying on the carpet, under the fans (not me – I wish – the kids). It was nice, and relaxing and good for a break. They get a day off tomorrow while the other half of Prep arrives, but they’re all there on Wednesday to start classes. We’ll see how this year pans out. Hopefully the best!

It has perplexed me for a few days, and this afternoon I finally decided to have a look and find out where on earth in Thunderbird you make it check for emails more regularly, and where you specify that you want your reply to be ABOVE in the return email.

If you’ve every wondered this also, never fear, the answer is here.

To Check For New Messages More Frequently:
Edit, Account Settings.
Click on the email you want to change,
Server Settings, Check for new messages every ___ minutes.
I choose every 1 minute, then my inbox is as up to date as I need it to be. Anything more frequent than that means that I need to take a break anyway.

To Make Your Reply Go On Top:
Edit, Account Settings.
Click on the email you want to change,
Composition and Addressing, Automatically quote the original message when replying Then, start my message above the quote

A while ago my fiancé and I went and saw Al Gore’s documentary: An Inconvenient Truth. After watching this documentary I was inspired to, well, save the world. I’ve found that there are lots of people out there wanting to do that same thing, they are most commonly known as ‘hippys‘, or ‘greenies‘, but it is becoming a more and more common thing to do.

I’ve compiled a few simple ways for you to help save the world.

1. Drive Less. I’ll be honest, this one’s a hard one for me, and if you live somewhere like I do, where the public transport isn’t that crash hot, you’d understand. But carpooling, walking, or riding your bike are all alternative ways of getting to school, work, or the local shops. Car pooling can be done when you go almost anywhere, so that’s a good idea.

2. Plant a tree. This one’s one of my favourites, because I love trees and plants. I would definitely recommend natives. Bottle Trees, Flame Trees, Wattles, and Gum Trees (Eucalyptus) are all natives and look great. If you’re not into the tree thing, then Kangaroo paw, banksias (another picture) and bottlebrush. Native plants use less water and are more tolerant of Australia’s climate (or whatever country you’re from). Thanks to Native Nursery for the pictures.

3. Turn of the lights! Something as simple as turning off the lights, fans or air con when you leave the room can help the environment SO much. Climate Crisis has a few good ways to save not only the environment, but on your electricity bill also!

4. Compost. Garbage that is not contaminated with degradable (biological) waste can be more easily recycled and sorted, and doesn’t produce methane gases (a significant greenhouse gas contributor) when stored in a landfill. (courtesy of Earth Day)

5. Recycle. Even if all you do to recycle is put your rubbish in one bin, and your paper, glass and plastic in another, you’re doing the world, well, the world of good! You might like to try taking your used plastic bags into Woolworths or Coles for them to recycle, and buy a green bag while you’re there. And what about all those Christmas cards, why not recycle those as well! You could even be involved in water recycling…

6. Save Water. Have a shorter shower, don’t leave the tap running when you brush your teeth, wash all your dishes at once… The list goes on with ways that you can save water. We’re in a drought at the moment, and so it’s something that we’re all aware of constantly. Here’s a few more tips for saving water.

7. Think about what you’re buying. Buy recycled things- paper, toilette paper, green bags from Woolworth/Coles, recycled wood used in furniture, etc. Also think about the energy that you use. Are you using renewable energy?

Warning: This post contains sensitive material.

I knew this guy in primary school.
I never thought that this would happen. I’m a little shell shocked, a little scared and little speechless (only a little speechless :-P).

So I wonder what goes on in the minds of people who kill.
UKTV has some interesting theories on the subject. I’m not asking the question of why he killed, just why people in general kill. I guess it’s made me think that people could kill for lots of reasons.

I guess people might kill ‘in the moment’ without really planning to, they might kill accidentally, or they might kill because they want the other person dead and they’ve planned it.

I don’t know why this guy killed someone, in fact, I don’t really know anything about him anymore. It was just a little shocking that it was someone that I knew.

I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on RSS, I know some how to use it- I have RSS on this blog, and I subscribe to RSS feeds through Thunderbird, but that’s about it. Luckily though, that’s all you really NEED to know.

Really Simple Syndication. It’s the most common definition for the acronym RSS. However there are a few different things that RSS can mean, but when it all boils down to it, really simple syndication sums it all up, and does the system justice.

RSS is really about making things simple.
Who has time to sift through a stack of sites, loading each page with all its pictures and adds and God knows what else. All we really want is the headline and the content, right? Well RSS gives you just that. By subscribing to a site, through the RSS button your feed reader will be updated whenever the site you’ve subscribed to is.

When I first heard about RSS I thought that it was mostly for blogs, and to be honest, that’s really all I use my RSS for. But RSS can be used for almost anything. You can subscribe to flickr photos, to blogs, to news sites, other photos sites, sites like Digg and Furl, the list goes on.

RSS readers are easy to use, and there are heaps of them out there. As I said before, my preference is Thunderbird, but that’s an email program that you have to download. If you use google, or yahoo, or even msn then they have feeders on their websites. I’ve tried out bloglines before, which is pretty good. The RSS Specifications websites list a stack of readers to try. As does Stephanie Quilao, from Back in Skinny Jeans, and About, has a list as well.
My tip would be that before you set up one of these as your default RSS reader, check out what extra things it does, and what the feed looks like in that site.

Back in Skinny Jeans also explains RSS The Oprah Way, which is worth a read. This picture explains it really well for all the visual learners out there, and is from this site.

So RSS is a way of having everything that you read, whatever it may be, in one easy place.

I don’t know what else to say about this other than, Wow. It’s incredible, I look forward to using a computer like this in the future!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

I haven’t been a geek for long (I’ll go with the third interpretation on that link…), and I guess it’s debatable if I am one or not, but my fiancé suggested that I give everyone a step by step guide to becoming one anyway.
I suppose it could be claimed that one is simply born geeky, but I beg to differ. I think that circumstances and opportunity have a big part to play, and if that’s what you’re interested in, and haven’t got the chance to be more geeky till now, then go for it!
Ready for some tips? Well, just one last thing. Geeks aren’t just guys, no way. I’m 19, female, and getting married in October. I suppose you can check out my myspace yourself, but I’m not ugly, so it’s really anyone’s game in the geek world.

1. Find some inspiration: Chances are that if you want to be a geek then you have some sort of inspiration. Maybe it’s one person, or a group of people who have some geek qualities that you would like to have, or that you admire. If they’re ‘real’ people, then hang around them more, if they’re ‘not real’ then read their blog, or listen to their podcast to get ideas and learn new things.

2. Learn new things: Listening to tech podcasts, and reading tech blogs is a great way to learn new information about your new favourite subject.
Here’s a few that I would recommend:
On The Net
Net@Nite
TWIT
CommandN

3. Get Connected: I have a whiteboard FULL of all the sites that I’m registered to. At the moment I register with nearly every site that I click on, because they can generally offer me some sort of service that I will use, or at least be able to tell other people about.

How can I have a podcast that tells you to use Del.icio.us if I don’t use it myself and haven’t experienced the pros and cons myself? How would I even know what they are?

Another great suggestions is that if you have a blog, join a blogging community, then you will be able to connect with other like-minded people.

4. Read The News: This one was inspired by my fiancé (as is nearly everything that I do as a geek), every day, sometimes more than just once a day, I go to my computer, open firefox, and open the ‘news’ folder. It opens all my ‘news’ sites into tabs and I sift through them trying to find things that interest me and teach me new things.
Here’s what’s in my ‘news’ folder at the moment, just so that you get a taste.

Life Hacker -”Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.” Del.icio.us -Check out what other people are into by looking at what they’ve tagged today.
Digg -Again look at what other people are interested in.
Digglicious -This one updates live on your screen showing the most frequently and commonly tagged sites on both Digg and Del.icio.us. This is one of my favourites.
Reddit -Again, it’s a similar site, but this usually has some different information on it.
BoingBoing -As the tag line suggests: Weird and wonderful things. Just to lighten the ‘tech mood’.
Gizmodo -Gizmodo likes making predictions and sharing with you new gadgets and gizmos.
Amber Mac -Amber is one of the host of Net@nite, and she always has cool links to sites and interesting things.
LOL- The Life Of Leo -The other host of net@nite, and TWIT. Usually got some cool stuff to share.
Newsvine -News articles and stories that people have ’seeded’ and said was good/bad/ugly. Plus ones that people have written.
Good Magazine -Great if you want to read some articles about a range of different topics and subjects. It’s displayed really well as well.
Dvorak Uncensored -John C. Dvorak is a well known tech journalist, good for a read if you want an opinion.

5. Network: This can be taken in two sense. One is that you make connections with people interested in tech as well, which is a good thing, and I’d recommend it. What I meant though was every time that you go to a webpage, especially one of the ones that I linked to above, then don’t just read the content, read the links and read the buttons and badges on the side. They’re the things that these people, groups, organisations, businesses are into, so they’re probably worth your time.

6. Give: You know how they say, ‘Give and it will come back to you?‘ well it’s as true with geeks as with anything, so set up a blog that talks about different issues, comment on other people’s blogs, be involved in communities on the web and try to soak in everything that you can while at the same time, try to teach other people something that you know.

7. Speciality: This isn’t always necessary, but is sometimes a good idea, particularly at the beginning, choose something that you can research more thoroughly so that you can be more knowledgeable then any Tom, Dick, or Harry off the street. Even if you don’t stick to it, it’s good to get your feet off the ground, so to speak.

Once you’ve been going through the news and blogs a bit it’s a good idea to start to specialise in one area. Some people talk Mac (Apple), Websites, Windows, Application/Programs, Hardware, Software, Gadgets, New Technologies, Companies, Web 2.0, Social Commentaries… the list goes on.

I’ve heard that shopping for wedding dresses can be one of the most stressful, tiresome, heart breaking and expensive times of your life. So today when I went on my first day of ‘real’ wedding dress shopping and managed to fall in love with the perfect dress, I was a little surprised.

A few weeks prior my friend had bought a wedding dress, off the rack, only a week or so after she got engaged. When I had heard this I was surprised. “How could you find a dress that you liked, just off the rack!?” I thought.
Obviously my expectations for the trip weren’t that I would find a dress, or even that I would put on a dress that day that I liked, I was merely there to get designs and ideas so that Mum and I could create our own, or, I could speak to someone about getting one ‘made to order’.

So when we walked into Elizabeth de Varga, a designer store, and saw a whole range of beautiful dresses, and loved one in particular, I was surprised at myself. My mother on the other hand was more surprised at the $3080 price tag, and that’s not including the extra sleeve bits that I wanted. ‘Rosemary’ was it’s name, and it was simply stunning. I might scan a picture of the sketch for you to see…

The next three hours were spent looking through bridal shops and dress shops finding nothing that compared to the one that I wanted. I scared my fiancé by telling him how much the one that I LOVED was, and my mother gave me unsure, telling looks that I might have to raise some of the dosh myself. A little hard with no job. :-(

After meeting my fiancé for lunch, and returning to a store that we hadn’t finished in yet, my mother showed me a dress, that I had previously dismissed, again. I tried it on, and viola, I was in love. I wore the dress for the rest of the afternoon, prancing around in it, holding different bouquets, different veils, etc. I’ve got it all worked out now, and this baby was only $1500, excluding the veil, and obviously bouquet.

So was the experience traumatic? No. Was the experience expensive? Not for me… Was the experience tiresome? I was tired by the end of it. Mostly, was the experience worth it? Absolutely! I found my perfect dress.
It will be need to be taken up and the bodice altered slightly to create a ’sweetheart’ neckline, as opposed to straight, but it is perfect and fitted and slim and lace and pretty and not white and just… perfect! I can’t wait to get married now! Woo hoo!