So, my daughter's getting her computer upgraded for Christmas. Actually, let's say that for Christmas she's being given (suspendable) internet privileges on the computer in the living room. There is only one problem with that...
There is no way I'm letting her get on my home network with a Win98 computer. The last thing I need is my daughter running a honeypot. Which leads me to my second, more expensive problem. Her computer wasn't top of the line back when Win98 was new; XP would just point and laugh.
So, I could drop ~$150-200 on a entry-level computer, hook it up and call it good; or I could provide a object lesson in cost-effectiveness. For $62 (including S&H), I'm maxing out the memory and adding a wireless card. Cost-effective? Well, the memory isn't gonna transfer anywhere -- PC100 isn't in high demand these days -- but the wireless card... while 802.11b/g isn't gonna win any speed awards any time soon; N is backwards compatable and if/when she actually gets a new computer, the card can travel -- or get put into mine if she doesn't need it. :).
And the best part is; this is what she wanted!
What's even stranger; she doesn't want XP -- or Vista, not that it could handle that monster -- on her computer. She wants Ubuntu. She's gonna have to settle for Xubuntu, though. The lower footprint (1.5 GB vs 4 GB) isn't going to burn through the late 90's size hard drive (which will get replaced or a second drive added sometime around April); her music files (actually, probably most of her home directory) will be on the network.
Now, it's just a waiting game. Wait for a late night that I can install the card, memory, and OS. Wait for Xmas to put it back out and boot-er up.

All Aboard the Meme Train

From http://theironlion.net/blog/book-meme/

Grab the nearest book.
Open it to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

At the fdisk prompt, type a for a list of commands.
--Using Linux Third Edition, Special Edition.

One More Thing

One of the things I took away from Tuesday night's election coverage was the astute observations by FoxNews contributor Karl Rove.
Yes, I was watching Fox News. It's not something I do very often - I'm not conservative by any stretch of the political definition. That said, the actual news portions of their broadcast day - such as Live Desk - are reliable and watchable, and as long as I stay away from the op-ed/"analysis" shoes (Hannity, O'Rielly, Van Susteren), my TV screen remains remarkably free of footwear flung in frustration. That said, I feel the same way about MSNBC (Olbermann : O'Rielly :: Kettle : Pot). I'm really politically homeless: moderate to conservative fiscally, extremely liberal when dealing with social issues, damn near libertarian on the Federal Gov'ts role.
What caught me while I was switching between the big 3 cable news outlets last night was Rove's evaluation of where Obama found votes. Sorry, can't find the video anywhere. I'll recap like the cohost did; Obama took votes from the various demographics with a scalpal, not a hatchet.
In other words, he built a coalition; instead of trying to win over whole blocks of voters - like Kerry did in 04 - and risk alienating his core constituency, Obama won over small portions of the traditionally Republican demographics: 2, 3, 4% of the vote compared to four years ago. Enough little steps, and you make large strides :).

A Time for Change

An Open Letter to Democrats:

Congratulations, my friends. The candidate you selected to represent your ideas to the American electorate has won. He won with a simple message... that it is time for change.

Savor the victory. Allow yourself a little time to gloat; but get over it, and do so fairly quickly. As of this writing (approx 2:30 am Eastern Time), you have 54 seats in the Senate, and cannot reach a 60 vote super majority without the help of Leiberman and Sanders. You've made gains in the House, but you've probably lost KS-2 (Boyda: D-Topeka), and perhaps others... I'm not going to search state by state to double check right now. I know it's just one seat in a heavily Republican seat, lost to a popular state Treasurer when your fairly popular Democratic Governor wasn't on the ticket to boost turnout for the incumbent. But it is there.

Soon - maybe not tomorrow; but soon - the real work to enact Obama's Change begins. Moreover, it must begin on a local level as well as the national stage. And quite frankly, it means doing many of the same things that another Democratic President asked us to do: work together to build better communinities, volunteer; make ourselves better.

And encourage our lawmakers - Democrat AND Republican - to do the same. Build coalitions; use diplomacy; prioritize, and use those priorities to reduce wasteful spending. Reinvest in our elementary and high schools; find effective ways of keeping kids involved in school and learning, so we can compete in the Science and Mathematics fields. And yes, raise taxes when there is no more fat to cut.

And maybe; just maybe, we'll be able to turn 4 years into 8.