SoylentNews

Managed to kick out the first draft of the bylaws, they're here on the wiki http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/Incorporation/Bylaws for anyone who wishes to take a look. I need to fill out some more paperwork, then submit the entirity of the mess to a lawyer. I got a few recommendations, so mostly now is lawyer shopping.

Here at the shop I get to use and try more gear than most and one thing I've noticed is that AMD driver 14.4 is to be AVOIDED at all costs! they have already issued one fix so far but even the "fixed" driver just doesn't work. I use a lot of the HD77xx series cards (liked them so much myself and my family are all on HD77xx) and the new drivers are just terrible on those cards, it makes boot slow to a crawl, many formats of video just don't play, even seeing BSODs when playing some H.26x formatted vids.

If I had to guess its the new HSA or Mantle causing the teething problems but until they figure out the cause its best to stick with 13.12 which is rock solid.

For those that haven't tried it lately Comodo Internet Security has added a bit of brilliance...a virtual machine desktop! With this even your most clueless users/friends/relatives can have the added security of surfing in a VM without having to know squat about OSes and VMs, here is how...

1.- Give them the free Comodo IS, 2.- If they don't have it install MSFT Silverlight (no worries about zero days and the like though, because the VM runs in a locked down sandbox), 3.- Show them where the big button is that says "virtual desktop". For the most clueless Comodo comes with a widget on the desktop with most functions including virtual desktop. 4.- There is no step 4, let your user enjoy a virtual desktop loaded with Google apps and Comodo Dragon for surfing while you enjoy not having to worry about infections on their system. Hell it even comes with Angry Birds to give 'em a reason to start using it!

For years we've known that using a VM locked down and separate from the OS was a good thing but its just been too complicated for Joe and Jane, well Comodo hs that problem licked, I have handed it to some of my most clueless and virus prone customers and so far? Clean as a whistle. Its easy, increases security by a large amount, and its free...what's not to like?

Well, that was snuck in... The SoylentNews RSS feed now has summaries in it. Yay! I only noticed as I went to check it in preparation for my own effort to build a summaries feed - I don't have to bother now :)

However, whom ever did it, has got the encoding of the <description> tags wrong; You don't escape the html inside, you wrap the whole lot in CDATA tags like so:

<description>
  <![CDATA[This is the summary text complete with <i>HTML tags</i>.]]>
</description>

Or, you do what Slashdot does, and strip all formatting and links out forcing the reader to click through to the main site (not a fan of this, but I can see why as a site admin you'd want to do it).

-Jar

I am looking for an entry level developer who can start on the help desk and do some bug fixes and new feature development. The job is in Columbus, Ohio and full time telecommuting is not an option (sorry). If you are interested please check out the job posting on Monster and apply (http://jobview.monster.com/Support-Desk-Net-Developer-Job-Columbus-OH-133973915.aspx) Please pass the word.

I realize this is a bit of a longshot, and I don't want to run a QA on the site for this, but does anyone have a lead on a lawyer in New Hampshire to help me through incorporation? I'm also looking for a CPA, but those are relatively easiler to locate.

I've looked at various services such as Harbor Compliance, but they don't seem to be legal help, just document filing services ...

What is the point of News if you have no forum to discuss it?

What good is information if you have no means to share it?

What good is data and theory ; if there is no means of verification?

Long live LibreNews!

I have been trying to setup a native development environment on Windows for Slashcode. I have made a lot of progress with Eclipse and Eclipse's EPIC plug-in, however when trying to test any of the Slash modules, references to other Slash modules fail to be located. Is this a hopeless effort? :/

It would appear to be a simple issue with Perl's @INC array, however after a full day of wrestling with it I am completely out of ideas...

I have discovered that by creating an environment variable called PERL5LIB, we can add items to the top of @INC without touching any code in the Slash project. Great.

On Windows (Using the default cmd.exe) you set the %PERL5LIB% variable by right-clicking 'My Computer', selecting 'Properties' and choosing the 'Advanced System Settings' on the left. Once you open a new cmd.exe, the changes will be reflected. If you're using a Bash shell on Windows (msysgit, for example) locate your profile which is likely Users\username\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\etc\profile

You can use the -V argument to display perl's extended info, including the @INC contents at the bottom:

$ perl -V

@INC:
/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/msys
/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/msys
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
.

After adding /usr/share/slashcode:/usr/share/slashcode/Slash:/usr/share/slashcode/Slash/Constants to the PERL5LIB environment variable we get:

@INC:

/usr/share/slashcode
/usr/share/slashcode/Slash
/usr/share/slashcode/Slash/Constants
/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/msys
/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/msys
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
.

That's in a Git Bash shell on Windows, which is why it's formatted that way. I long gave up on cmd.exe for this because of how dependent slashcode is on a linux.

Even with the above absurd @INC, I get this from all Slash modules in one form or another:

michealpwalls@K75DE-WINDOWS ~
$ cd /usr/share/slashcode/Slash

michealpwalls@K75DE-WINDOWS /usr/share/slashcode/Slash (meh)
$ perl -e'use slash;'

Can't locate Slash/Constants.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /usr/share/slashcode /usr/share/slashcode/Slash /usr/share/slashcode/Slash/Constants /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/msys /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/msys /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl .) at /usr/share/slashcode/Slash/slash.pm line 32.

BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/slashcode/Slash/slash.pm line 32.

Compilation failed in require at -e line 1.

BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at -e line 1.

Any thoughts? :/

One of today's 'funny' quotes at the bottom of SN pages is:

FORTUNE PROVIDES QUESTIONS FOR THE GREAT ANSWERS: #31
A: Chicken Teriyaki. Q: What is the name of the world's oldest kamikaze pilot?

As a collector of such 'funny' quote lists in my youth during the early days of the Internet, I know that many of these lists are legacy and over two decades old, however in today's enlightened world, many of them are just simply offensive. This one today, is basically 'casual racism' which I'm sure is not something SN want's to be associated with.

I'd happily spend some time cleaning the quote list up (I have a large collection of similar quotes that do not offend) but I have no idea where in the SN backed it lives or even how to get to it. :(

Wooo, that nearly killed me to finish it. It's going living at 20:00 UTC (4PM EST), which is the start of our peak hours. We'll be revising it based on community feedback and if other important points come up as time goes on.

Of course, words means only as much as the actions taken behind them, but I think we've been relatively consistent in meeting the goals I outlined. Here's a small sneak preview for those who read my journal til the whole thing goes live

Statement of Purpose

Our aim is to stand in stalwart opposition to these trends. We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.