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I appreciate Ubuntu. After dabbling with Devuan, I appreciate Ubuntu more.

I'm a techie, and like playing with things - including different Linux distros - but ultimately I use by computers to get work done. It's time to move on from my old Xubuntu install, so I figured I would try Devuan, since they just released Devuan ASCII. A new version ought to be up-to-date, being a Debian derivative, it ought to be reliable, and not having systemd can only be an advantage. So...

First, the installation process is needlessly confusing. It clearly has only been tested by people who have installed Devuan before. It defaults to wanting to take the whole disk (dangerous). When you insist on manually picking a partition, it doesn't display the partition names (dangerous). Then some of the options are just weird: picking my swap partition (there's already a linux swap on the disk), it offers to format it to ext3, ext4, etc..

During installation, I am informed that some hardware components of my system require non-free drivers. I have no problem with that. But I am asked to "insert the media" with the drivers, "ok or cancel". Um...what media would that be? If the drivers aren't in the ISO image, I have no idea where to get them. But if they are in the ISO image, why ask me to insert media? What will happen if I cancel out? Very confusing.

People who know the installer inside-and-out, and are just testing functionality, won't see any problems with any of this. For people new to the distro, there are a lot chances to seriously screw up along the way. The experience is totally unsuitable to people who aren't extremely technical.

This continues into the next phase of installation. You were able to pick the installation language, but there was no way to pick the next level of detail. Lots of us in Europe install in English, but we don't want US time/date/currency formats and we need an international keyboard. XFCE is installed, but is completely empty - there's not even an application menu. Seriously? A freshly installed system, and the user can't even start an application? Great user experience!

Want to hook up to a wireless network? It was set up during installation, but those settings aren't carried over into the installed system. Instead of detecting what the network actually supports, the user is confronted with a huge list of all possible security protocols. The individual access points are listed - do you have to set up each individual AP? Um...

Ok, we can get past all of this. LibreOffice it pre-installed, that's nice. But not the languages, and the installation process in LibreOffice itself is painful (Ubuntu has a Language Support setting that handles this nicely). And...what's this? LibreOffice 6 has been out for months now, but Devuan's brand new release only has LibreOffice 5.2, which was end-of-life more than a year ago?

This is the point I stopped. Xubuntu 18.04, here I come...

Holy war? Holy crap! Forget all the distractions in the news. Erdogan is apparently going off the deep end.

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday strongly criticized Austria’s move to close mosques and expel Turkish-funded imams, slamming the decision as anti-Islamic and promising a response.

“These measures taken by the Austrian prime minister are, I fear, leading the world toward a war between the cross and the crescent,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.

Hello, liberals, progressives, and fellow travelers! Wakey, wakey! Are you woke?

This is exactly the thing that many of us have been warning against, for the past ten years, and more. Islam is most certainly NOT a "religion", and absolutely not a "religion of peace". Islam is a complete society, with a religion, politics, military, and everything necessary for a complete civilization. And, Islam is intolerant of EVERY FORM OF religion, politics, military, and all else that is necessary for a civilization.

Austria decides to crack down on Muslim activists, and Erdogan is talking about a holy war.

His comments came the day after the Austrian government announced it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on “political Islam,” triggering fury in Ankara.

Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the junior partner in Austria’s coalition government said the move concerned imams with alleged links to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organisation, a branch of Turkey’s religious affairs agency Diyanet.

Isn't Erdogan supposed to be the head of a "secular government"?? WTF is he talking about, "holy war"? I guess he has put the lie to that old claim. The Turkish army has failed in it's mission to safeguard secularism.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-warns-austria-imam-crackdown-will-lead-to-holy-war/

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1318351/middle-east

“Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalization have no place in our country,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the ruling center-right People’s Party said.

http://indianexpress.com/article/world/austria-to-shut-down-mosques-expel-foreign-funded-imams-5209799/

The moves follow a “law on Islam”, passed in 2015, which banned foreign funding of religious groups and created a duty for Muslim organisations to have “a positive fundamental view towards (Austria’s) state and society”.

“Political Islam’s parallel societies and radicalising tendencies have no place in our country,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who, in a previous job as minister in charge of integration, steered the Islam bill into law.

This topic only came to my attention, several minutes ago. It popped up in my news feed, at OneAmerica - http://www.oann.com/austria-plans-to-shut-down-mosques-expel-foreign-funded-imams/ Newsfeed says the story was posted at 4:30 AM, but when I click it at about 11:00 AM, it has been taken down. A web search turns up many hits, almost all of them on foreign nations. None on America's mainstream media. Search terms used are "austria expel imam". Try it - Duckduckgo gives me pages of results, none of them from abc/nbc/cbs/cnn/fox/turner/hearst. None.

Helluva thing, if the whole Korean thing gets defused, while Islam is busy launching a holy war against the rest of the world.

What say the apologists?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6433935/five-brits-arrested-in-magaluf-for-hate-crime-as-ex-pats-and-prostitutes-continue-to-clash-in-party-resort/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06/03/knife-wielding-prostitutes-british-tourists-in-violent-clashes-at-notorious-party-resort-in-spain.html
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/531866/magaluf-prostitutes-british-tourists-robbed-calvia-police
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/966432/Magaluf-prostitutes-mugging-robbing-tourists-majorca

Mallorca has been a wild, wild party place since before I joined the Navy. It had a reputation, even then, of "anything goes". If you have the cash, pretty much anything you desire can be yours, for a night at least. The stories allude to the fact that the authorities generally look the other way, and don't get involved.

But, the illegals are changing that:

Taxi drivers say they know of the women as they frequently give them lifts and believe they are raking in around 1,000 euros each a day.

"During the past weekend, 50 to 60 prostitutes approached visitors offering 'full' services for 40 pounds, that is, the standard price they have established. All this is an excuse," it is alleged.

"The real purpose is to approach drunken young people. Prostitutes are specialists in capturing the attention of tourists in the area, cajole them and lead them to some dark alley. Once there, several of the women beat and rob their victims."

British businesses fed-up with the situation have staged a demonstration in Calvia calling for urgent action.

One trader said: "We are fed up with a group of undesirables spoiling our activity season after season."

The organisers say the prostitutes stir up trouble which goes against the long list of "co-existence" rules drawn up by Calvia council. The authority has put up signs in Magaluf and the other nightlife areas warning of 200 euro fines for bad behaviour.

They haven't been able to get official residence papers and as some have children, the only work they can do is prostitution, they added.

Nigeria? I guess the Nigerian princes aren't getting enough action on the internet these days. They have to send their women to the outside world to hustle up some money.

A (very) small number of Soylentils may remember my Rag dog. A couple of the kids had spent the day working on their old POS vehicles. That evening, they came into the house, one of them holding a mostly dirty rag, and wiping his hands on that rag. It still had a couple white corners showing, the rest was a mottled brown and black. Kid asks me if I want a puppy. "No, I don't need a puppy, I'm not going to spend time house breaking and training a puppy, thank you very much." Asshole hands me that damned dirty rag. It wasn't a rag, it was the puppy he was trying to give away. He proceeds to brag up the Australian sheep dog, telling me how great they are, how smart they are, and how loyal, blah blah blah.

Needless to say, I ended up keeping the puppy, and named her Rags. She's a sweet dog. Very quiet, most of the time. She didn't bark for months - literally. It shocked me when she finally let out a deep throated bark at something in the yard, I didn't think she had it in her.

The thing about puppies is, they grow up. Just like kids, they grow up. Rags got out, met some guy she liked, and made some puppies of her own.

So recently, she's been pregnant, then finally had a litter of little rags. And, she's not been eating much. When she does eat, she prefers to snitch some cat food, rather than eat dog food. Or, she sits and begs while we are cooking or eating.

More recently, I've "inherited" a pack of dogs that are basically abandoned. I've sort of shopped for less expensive dog food. I'm not a Wal-Mart shopper, but I've even gone into Wal-Mart to see how expensive their dog food is.

Well, they had a fifty pound bag of Ol' Roy bacon flavored dog food for twenty bucks. Not a super great price, but not bad. I grabbed one. Brought it home, opened it up, and shared some out for all the dogs. Here comes Rags - she's escaped the yard, and run all the way up to where I have the other dogs penned up. And, she bulls her way in to the pack, scarfing up that Ol' Roy bacon flavored dog food.

I'm questioning - does she really like that dog food, or is she just socializing, dog style, and competing for the food like dogs do?

Brought some of that bacon flavor stuff back to the house, put it down for her, and she's still gobbling it up! Yes, the little Mama actually likes the Ol' Roy! She walked around the cat's bowl, and went to her own bowl, to eat it.

Her fat little puppies need lots of milk, so she needs to eat. Looks like I'll be buying WalMart brand dog food from now on.

Bacon. Everything is better with bacon!

Unlike some other brands of dog food, Wal-Mart branded dog food doesn't have a lot of nutritional information. The best analysis available seems to be here: https://www.dogfoodinsider.com/ol-roy-dog-food-review/ Rather low quality food, but if the silly dog eats it, then it's better than high dollar food that she won't eat!

And - BACON!

Memorial Day is actually kinda depressing. No one seems to know what it's about.

Today, as I was leaving work, HR came waddling up to me.
"Are you coming to our Memorial Day picnic?" I have a number of reasons why I don't attend company picnics, among them, the fact that I am an asocial asshole.
Me:"No, I'm not going to be there."
HR: "Oh, but we're honoring all of our veterans! You should come!" Welllll - first off, I'm not her veteran, nor the company's veteran. None of us served the fat broad, nor her board of directors. And, second, I resent every time the company collects all the veterans they can, snap a photo, then publish it in the local papers to capitalize on our service.
Me: "Naaahhh, it's to much bother to drive home from work, get a shower, get dressed, then drive another hour to come back for a picnic."
What I SHOULD HAVE SAID, "Memorial Day isn't about those of us who came home. Memorial Day is about our buddies who didn't come home. Memorial Day is about all of my dad's buddies who didn't come home. Memorial Day is about the MILLIONS of people who laid down their lives, so that the rest of us can get on with our lives."

So very, very, VERY few seem to "get it". We veterans already have a day, called "Veteran's Day". On that day, it is appropriate to have a picnic for your favorite veteran(s). Shake their hands, make sure they get a piece of cake, and say "Thank you for your service". That sort of thing is entirely appropriate on Veteran's Day.

On Memorial Day - I like to sit around the house, and reflect. I think about shipmates who are still on patrol. I think about all those sailors, Seabees, and Marines of my dad's generation, all of them still on patrol. I think about the men and women who have served this country since our nation's Declaration of Independence. People who fought the British - twice. People who fought the Indians, many times, rightly and wrongly. Our ancestors who fought the Mexicans, the Spanish, North Koreans, Russians, and more recently, Vietnamese, Iraqis, and Afghans.

So very many never came home.

And, HR wants me to attend a picnic, so that she can "honor" me? WTF? I ain't dead. Someone tried to kill me a few times, sure, but that doesn't count.

Maybe we didn't suffer enough in our wars. Some other countries understand Memorial Day better than we do. Both China and Russia seem to have better observances than we do. Maybe it's because both countries have survived wars in which literally millions of civilians were killed. Much of Europe lost far more than we did, because both the first and second world wars were fought right there. In their town squares, in their schoolyards, in their backyards. Us? All we did was to send a bunch of men and material overseas. Our town halls weren't blown into splinters. Our churches weren't bombed. Our hospitals weren't firebombed. Our women and children didn't watch brigades of foreign troops trying to butcher each other in the streets.

Memorial day. To me, it's just not a time to party. Let us honor our fallen, instead. Even if it might mean a little discomfort for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARtqpGMkhN4

Maybe - just maybe - I can persuade a few among you to visit a cemetery. Walk around, and find some of the veteran's tomb stones. Many are easily identifiable. Take a few flags with you - some of those little 9 inch flags, on little wooden sticks. Plant those flags beside the tomb stones. Spend a few minutes, and think. And, tell the man beneath that stone, "Thank you for your sacrifice, Sir."

That done, may you enjoy your picnic. And, tell me whether the food tastes even better, for having taken the time and trouble to honor those who deserve honor.

So, I was out smoking and getting my first cup of coffee down this morning when the solution to the skills gap in the U.S. hit me out of the blue.

You know how your ears, nose, and feet keep slowly growing all your life, right? What we need is some lab coat wearing sons of bitches to figure out the mechanism that causes this. Then we need them to figure out a treatment that will cause the same in the penis. Enough guys should then spend what would otherwise go to a degree to pay for the treatment and force them to take up a skilled trade if they want to make a good living.

Problem solved.

https://www.rt.com/news/426774-crimea-bridge-opening-ceremony/

Europe’s longest: Putin leads column of trucks at Crimean bridge opening ceremony (VIDEO)
Published time: 15 May, 2018 11:36
Edited time: 16 May, 2018 12:31

  A new 19km bridge connecting the mainland with the Crimean Peninsula has been officially opened, making Russia the host of Europe’s longest bridge. President Vladimir Putin personally drove a truck across it to mark the occasion.

The opening of the bridge was all about the people, who created the massive construction in record time. A column of dozens of heavy-duty vehicles including hauler trucks, construction cranes and cement-mixers buzzed along, occasionally tooting their horns. Putin, who showed up for the ceremonial trip unusually dressed in casual style, drove one of the two Kamaz trucks in the front of the motorcade. His usual entourage was literally sidelined, keeping at a distance on the other half of the road.

The column arrived to the Crimean side of the bridge, where Putin spoke a few 'thank you' words to the thousands of people who contributed to the project – from underwater explosives specialists, who helped sweep the seabed for bombs left from World War II, and archeologists to the many construction workers who made the bridge possible.

“10,000 people work at this construction site, 15,000 during peak load. Almost 220 companies were involved. In fact, the entire country worked on it. The result is wonderful. It makes Crimea and the legendary Sevastopol stronger and brings us all closer together,” he said.

The bridge has two parts – one for automobile traffic, which is opening this week, and one for trains – which is to be finished next year. For several more months, trucks will not be allowed through, giving extra time to check all the safety measures and engineering quality. The parade of heavy vehicles on Tuesday apparently aims at dispersing any speculation about the strength of the bridge.

A direct path connecting the Crimean Peninsula to the Krasnodar region on mainland Russia is a significant achievement. Building one was considered as early as the late 19th century. The invading Nazi Germany started constructing a bridge, but the project was cut short by advancing Soviet Union.

The soviets went as far as erecting a bridge themselves, but it quickly failed due to difficult seabed terrain and harsh winter weather. Eventually a ferry connection was deemed a more viable alternative. In modern times Russia and Ukraine were trying to negotiate a joint project to create a bridge with modern technology, but it didn’t take off.

Tables turned in 2014, when an armed coup in Kiev put a fiercely anti-Russian government in power in Ukraine. Frightened by threats of nationalist pogroms and a rollback of autonomy, the predominantly Russian population of Crimea voted in a referendum to break up from Ukraine and ask Russia to take the peninsula back as part of the country, which Moscow did. Kiev responded by trying to isolate the region, disrupting supplies of freshwater and electricity and restricting travel to Crimea.

The Crimean bridge project was Russia’s response to the situation – a permanent overland link between the peninsula and the rest of the country. The work on the project started in 2015 in parallel with creating necessary infrastructure on both sides of the Kerch Strait.

In 2016, the actual work on the bridge started in earnest, with workers building temporary constructions and driving pillars into the seabed. Year 2017 was marked by arguably the trickiest part of the construction – towing, rising and putting in place two arches under which ships can pass. The steel constructions weighted 6,000 tons and 5,500 tons for the railroad and automobile parts of the bridge respectively.

Previously the title of Europe’s longest bridge was held by the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Portugal, which has a total length of over 12km. Trailing shortly behind it is the Lezíria Bridge located in the same country. European bridges however pale before their Asian counterparts. The world’s longest bridge is a 164.8km monster connecting China’s cities of Danyang and Kunshan, which opened in 2010.

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        Europe’s longest: Putin leads column of trucks at Crimean bridge opening ceremony (VIDEO)

China is slick, there's no getting around that. They have a maturity that all Western nations lack. It comes with their 5000 years of history.

http://www.apfn.org/THEWINDS/1997/05/favored_china.html

Most Favored Nation (MFN) status was granted to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 and has been renewed on a yearly basis ever since. MFN allows the PRC access to U.S. markets at tariff rates that average six percent. Nations without the designation face a forty-four percent tariff. Most nations have MFN with the exception of six including Vietnam, Cuba and North Korea. Clinton has until June 3 to formally notify Congress of his decision. From that point, Congress has 90 days to reverse his decision. (The Washington Post, 5-20-97).

"I am moving, therefore, to de-link human rights from the annual extension of Most Favored Nation trading status for China." --President Bill Clinton, announcing MFN status for China, White House, 5-26-94.

I have wondered, from to time, where that term came from. "Most Favored Nation". What does that even mean?

I stumbled over an explanation, in a seemingly unrelated article.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/opium-war-1857.htm

The agreements reached between the Western powers and China following the Opium Wars came to be known as the "unequal treaties" because in practice they gave foreigners privileged status and extracted concessions from the Chinese. Ironically, the Qing Government had fully supported the clauses on extraterritoriality and most-favored nation status in the first treaties in order to keep the foreigners in line.

WTF? MFN, or Most Favored Nation was forced upon China, by the US and UK, almost 150 years ago. We fought the First Opium War, and then the Second Opium War to establish that we can trade wherever we want, in whatever manner suits us. China was required to grant MFN status to the US and the UK, and then later, to any European nation requesting said status.

So - a status that was forced down China's throat, at the point of a sword, we grant to China more than a hundred years later.

For such an intelligent son of a bitch, Clinton was pretty damned stupid. Not only did he give military tech to China, for free, but he kowtowed to the Chinese leadership with the choice of terms. Most Favored Nation.

I wonder if Clinton and Obama are related? Both like to grovel at the feet of foreign rulers . . .

In effect, that title validates any demands, any claims, that China might make upon the US. We GAVE a foreign power privileged status, and we GAVE them concessions, repeatedly. And, they didn't even have to bring a sword to the negotiations, because Bill Clinton was so eager to betray the United States of America.

Well, I asked NCommander nicely if I could be fired for triggering up some SJW butthurt this week but it seems being freed from doing most of the adminy and codey stuff around here to return to a leisurely life of porn, fishing, and vidya is not in the cards at the moment. Ah well. When life hands you lemons, bean the people who annoy you in the face with them.

When I was a kid I used to really hate all the "old" people droning on and on about how wonderful the 1960s were. The TV was full of nostalgia programmes, especially music, and even the radio had seemingly endless programmes of tinny and inane pop songs. Then there were the hippies. They had sideburns and flared trousers! Argh! What's more, adverts on TV all seemed to have 1960s pop songs as soundtracks. There was no escape.

At about that time in the 1980s I discovered Bay Area Thrash. That was my thing. One of my favourite bands of all time is Slayer who are doing their farewell tour this year. A couple of years ago, I had my hair cut short. I still love the music. Mrs Turgid and I went to see Testament playing in London a couple of weeks ago.

Last week I was watching TV in the evening and I was most pleasantly surprised when an advert came on for a company (OVO Energy) which sells electricity apparently from only renewable sources which used Raining Blood by Slayer as the soundtrack! Ladies and gentlemen, Slayer are in an advert on mainstream TV in the UK for renewable energy! The advert starts with a load of clips of politicians and the like stating that they do not believe in climate change.

I am now my parents. I have short hair and my favourite music, frequently accused of being Satanic and antisocial, is now used to sell things on TV. I am the Establishment. I have arrived.

And while I'm at it, allow me to VIRTUE SIGNAL loud and clear: I just got myself a hybrid car. You should see the mileage I'm getting. My dirty old turbo diesel is off to the breakers yard.