Camp Blur

Life has been a bit of a blur of late. First week of TE has flown by and suddenly there are only three weeks left of it. Add to that the camp that begins tomorrow for BB and time becomes of the essence. I should however be alright and hopefully Vicky won't miss me too much!

'Till next time...

One:NZ

Listening to the radio this afternoon driving home after my 3rd day on TE (TE5:The Wellesley Years) and heard an interview with Norm Hewitt, ex rugby hard man and prop. He was telling us of his upbringing and how he was hassled for being "half cast" - that is having one parent European and one parent Maori.
But one thing he did say regarding that, is that its okay to be Maori, just as its okay to be Pakeha. We also need to, as New Zealanders, embrace both cultures, but move past this "Us and Them" mentality and become one.
I am in firm agreement with this statement. But Norm is not the first to make this statement. I haven't listened to much of the talk back since this interview, but I daren't say it would have been as loud nor as negative as the reception Don Brash got for saying essentially the same message at Orewa, 27 January 2004.

Until we move on from these "Us and Them" thought patterns and just concentrate on the "Us" (as in "All of Us"), then we will never move on from the seemingly endless issues that plague our nation.
'Till next time...

It's my domain. I shall live here!

Finally, after many years of having my own website, I pulled out my finger and got myself a domain. I didn't realise just how cheap it was! I thought a dot.com was going to be much, much more expensive than a dot.co.nz... As it turns out, they're not!
So there you have it, I now have alingham.com!

Please readjust your bookmarks! (Ctrl+D)

'Till next time...

Debut

I've been busying myself with building a new website in Wordpress.
It's called "Debut" - named after my slogan "This debut life".
Currently I am hosting it on my personal server, but eventually I want to ship it off shore so to speak, get a domain for it and present it as a standalone blog.
Essentially what it is about is thoughts and ideas surrounding the Christian faith, including resources, music reviews and much more.
I'm currently working on the theme for the site and hopefully this will attract a few people to it.
Please, head along if you're interested and show your support.
http://debut.alingham.eirenz.net

'Till next time...

New theme // Charcoal

I've added a new theme to my site. Its called "Charcoal". All I did was inverted the colours of the "Eraser" theme and voile, a brand new theme to enjoy.

'Till next time...

Ubuntu 8.04 - Good Idea?

I upgraded my Linux to Ubuntu 8.04 this afternoon. The whole process took 2 hours, and that was updating from the CD (which isn't as easy as it seems)

And at the end of it I'm not too sure about the final result.A few of the things that worked splendidly without fail in 7.10 are suffering a small lapse in concentration it would seem.

Firstly, updating using the CD is not native. You have to add the new CD as a source, and then disable all the other sources of 7.10. That will ensure that when you upgrade, it won't go to the net to get the files, but will use the CD. Then go to System -> Administration -> Update Manager, which will tell you that 8.04 is waiting to be upgraded to. Click on that and go make lunch, do the shopping you need to do for a week, go visit an old friend or you could also take part in a marathon. If you're lucky when you get back all will be resolved and updated!

Secondly, once rebooted I found that Wireless wasn't working. And this is a big problem. Because to do anything on computers, including continuing to update the system, you need internet. Luckily I was able to plug in wires and connect the "old school" way and find a solution to this problem here. Basically it seems to be the latest kernel that is the problem, and selecting the previous kernel (for me it was 2.6.22-14) seems to fix this problem.

Thirdly, Compiz window manager is broken. I had this previously installed in 7.10, but now it seems to not be working. After initiating that I want this as my window manager, and selecting the appropriate theme in Emerald, it crashes and reverts back to a Metacity theme. I am currently looking for solutions to this.

EDIT: Have found a viable solution. First, you need "Simple Compiz Config Settings Manager" (even if you don't want it) This will enable the "Custom" Option Under the Visual Effects tab in System -> Preferences -> Appearance. See here
Having done this, you need to set all the settings as you want it and then go to Advanced Desktop Settings Effects (CCSM) and scroll to Window Decoration, and change the Command section to be "emerald --replace". See Post 9-13 of this forum

Fourthly, it would seem that being part of the cutting edge that Ubuntu wants to be, it's gone with the latest of software choices. The main culpret of this that I have seen so far is Firefox. Rather than sticking with a stable build, they have chosen to run with 3.0 beta5. Now, whilst I can't wait for 3.0 to come out... Unless I'm developing, I don't really have time for Beta version. Mainly because I know so much can go wrong. And also because plugins and extensions (of which Firefox has so many of and which I use frequently) are generally no longer workable or developed for beta versions.

With that said, I have been looking forward to 8.04 for a while and now that I have it, am going to make sure I give it a darn good shot at becoming great.

'Till next time...

What is and what isn't

Life has been running along smoothly. Every now and then a stone will chip up onto the windscreen, but that only adds character.
What is... a week of starts? Uni started back, yet it felt like we'd all been there all along...
What is... a week to remember? When you fall into a fight with a loved one, yet it only seemed to strengthen our friendship...
What is... a change for the good? With news from the church about a possibly move, and then look at the website! A new theme!... but what remains more constant? And will one loose its identity with such changes?
What is... a thinking mind? Such questions run around inside, with no clear reason, no clear purpose, and no clear answer. But its fun living there and sharing this with you.
What is? And what isn't? The truth will be revealed... when its finished reading the morning paper.
'Till next time...