Tim Cook - the most gay in Silicon Valley

Yeah, that's what i read today at Ars Technica, who in turn cites another source. And you know what? I applaud Tim Cook. Whether he's gay or not, this is of no concern to me or anyone else. Why do most gay people today feel the urge to make sure everyone knows they're gay?

The article makes a point that hey, gay people, look - there's a gay man, and he is the CEO of Apple - and you can do it too! Now i argue that this fact makes entirely different point - that you can be a CEO of Apple without waving your gay flag and instead just doing your fucking job. Tim Cook shows you faggots how it's done. You better learn from him.

Even if he isn't gay (after all, he didn't either acknowledge or deny that, which i admire immensely), i don't care. He's an Apple CEO, and you faggots shouldn't try and use successful people to justify your existence. Elton John isn't Elton John because he's gay - he's Elton John because he's Elton John. Tim Cook didn't make it to CEO's because he's gay - he made it because he's a brilliant guy and Steve Jobs trusts him enough to replace himself.

Lybia

You didn't think i'm going to pass this subject by, did you? Yeah, yeah, i'm just like all the others - writing on the hot topic to get pageviews, the soulless twat that tries to capitalize on other peoples' suffering, yada-yada - well, you get the idea.

Anyway, most of you might know that there's an armed raid going on in Libya. Yeah, yeah, civil war, uprising, oppressive regime - cut the bullshit, please. There is no uprising, there is no oppressive regime - all there is is a country where petrol is cheaper than water and lots of stuff is for free or very cheap because the man in charge actually cares about his people. However, that doesn't please the USA and NATO, so they decided to once again force a democracy into a sovereign country.

Unfortunately for them, things are not going as well as they thought. Since no one is oppressed, no one is willing to stand up against the evil oppressive dictator Gaddafi, hence NATO has to hire mercenaries from nearby countries/states, mainly from Qatar. And since this is really a NATO operation, a bunch of NATO soldiers are at it too - the US Navy Seals, some french guys, SAS (unconfirmed) etc. And of course, this whole "revolution" is happening with the financial and military help from NATO.

Does it? Well, how many people you know keep new and shiny FN2000's at their home? Even in USA, i doubt there are many, let alone Lybia. And yet, we clearly see the pictures of rebels with those babies right here:

Yeah, i find it strange too that these guys just happen to have the NATO guns. Kinda reminds me of the russian revolution, only there is USA instead of Lenin and co. The russian revolution of 1917 was financed from the west, the poor factory workers suddenly ended up walking the streets with shiny new german Mausers, and Lenin, while being caught by foreign intelligence somehow misteriously ended up in Switzerland shortly after, and with loads of cash in gold that he used to finance the revolution. Sure, USA doesn't need to finance anyone besides the rebels.

So yeah, this whole situation is a joke. Of course, most probably Libya will fall in the end, because Gaddafi has limited resources, and all his frozen bank accounts are now in the hands of the rebels. After all, you just can't stop USA. This time, they don't even try to hide the fact that they are in it for the oil - the rebels are already declaring that whoever helps the "revolution" gets the privileged access to Libya's resources.

However, USA/NATO will not win because of its military power. They win on the other front - the information war. There's a shitload of falsified news floating around. News agencies refuse to work with independent reporters, indie news are cut off air for telling the truth about this whole thing, the photographs get photoshopped, the videos are made in pavilions, in Qatar - everywhere just to make the illusion of being in Tripoli. This is a nice roundup on this. It also mentions NATO bombardments that aren't in the "official" mainstream media but are covered everywhere else.

Anyway, speaking of photoshopped pictures and fake videos:

This doesn't need any description. Then there's this obviously fake "report":

Then there's this fake photo of dead Gaddafi, broadcasted by the BBC:

There's lots of it really, just look around the internets.

What surprises me the most is the support/silent consent of fellow Muslim countries and frankly any other country in that region. Do you really think you will end up differently?

Oh, for the desert, some real serious shit. War is ugly, everybody knows that. But it's a different story when you actually see how ugly it is. I wonder what would all those people supporting Lybian intervention say when they see this (WARNING: EXTREME VIOLENCE, REALLY SERIOUS SHIT, I MEAN IT!).

Apple no more

Today, Steve Jobs has announced that he's leaving his CEO position. And although he said that he'll stay in Apple and will rule it for some time, i think this is a beginning of a decline for Apple. Tim Cook will replace Jobs as a CEO, but while Cook is a brilliant guy who helped Apple become what it is now in terms of overall infrastructure, he isn't Jobs. He isn't a visionary. Just as Ballmer, while being a great guy in his own right, is a poor replacement to Bill Gates, Tim Cook will never replace Jobs.

Microsoft is having a bit of identity crisis now - it was a PC software company, and it tried to expand itself into IM, search engines, mobile phones, gaming consoles, lotsa stuff really, and never really succeeded anywhere. The dominance of Microsoft is still a remainder from its PC software era - everyone depends on Microsoft, because everyone depends on Microsoft. If it wasn't for DirectX dominance on the desktop, i doubt that a lot of developers would flock to Xbox.

Anyway, the point is - Microsoft isn't what it was when there was Gates. And though Jobs is not yet leaving the company altogether, he is clearly preparing for his retirement - after which Apple will never be the same. Remember what was Apple when there was no Steve Jobs to guide it? It was all but dead. He came around and brought it into relevance again. He built a religion around its products. Can Tim Cook do that?

I must admit - i despise Apple products. I hate the lock-in, i hate these gadgets constantly spying on me, i hate the inflexibility and inability to look to the guts of the system and do advanced stuff. They look and act awfully pretty, but that's about all i like about them. However, i have a very, very, very deep respect for Steve Jobs. He is a one-of-a-kind guy. I wish there was more guys like him in the technology world.

The biggest question right now is - will Apple end up like AC/DC, or will they end up more like Lynyrd Skynyrd? Will they find their new leader, who will continue to push the envelope (well, AC/DC weren't exactly pushing the envelope...), or will they lose their momentum and become a barely relevant, once great company?

You're just jealous

How many times have you said something like "Justin Bieber sucks!" and your opponent goes with this dumbest reply ever - "Justin Bieber is hott, you're just jealous"? I think it happened to all of us. Doesn't matter if it's Justin Bieber, Lady Ga Ga, Kurt Cobain or any other hyped-up "celebrity".

Really? Am i jealous? Am i jealous of the guy who spends all his life on camera? Hell, he can't even take a shit without a million cameras pointing at him! How can i possibly be jealous of this guy? I want to take a shit in privacy, thank you very much.

This whole "celebrity" thing is just stupid. I'm not jealous of these people, i just can't get through my head why are they so famous. Did they make some important scientific discovery? Did they cure cancer? What did they do in their miserable lives that makes them deserve their fame?

You know who deserves fame? Stephen Hawking. If you don't know who that is, look him up. Forget Justin Bieber - he's just a big marketing campaign. Even his hairstyle is trademarked. Forget Lady Ga Ga - while she's a genius at selling herself and incorporating bizarre fashion into her persona, she's pretty mediocre in terms of actual music talent. She should've been a fashion designer, not a singer.

Burn, burn, yes you gonna burn!!!

Can anyone tell what the fuck is wrong with UK? I mean, with all those riots in London and all. The best part is - what the fuck? They don't give any messages, they don't seem to act in response to some tax increase, job cuts or whatever - it seems to be just a bunch of niggers (of all races) suddenly deciding to go on a rampage. I can't picture myself seeing riots outside my house and going all "hey let's crash and burn everything, it's party time!". I know for a fact that area is full of low-life assholes, but still it's not like they go out and loot shops on a daily basis. There must be some reason for this to happen. I remember some shit was happening in France a year ago, but it started out as protests as far as i remember i.e. those guys actually had a message to deliver. What do these guys have to say?

On a side note, team poison hacked Blackberry blog and posted a message threatening RIM with actions if it cooperates with the police. First of all, RIM?.. Didn't know they're still relevant. How much market share do they have now? Three percent? Second, all those poor bastards have Blackberrys? A phone that is positioned as a business/enterprise solution? Oh, how low you have fallen, RIM. Third, threatening message. Clear demands, clear (although somewhat dubious) goal (of protecting innocent bystanders from police intimidation). Yay! The real cyberterrorism! It's not on a big enough scale, probably looks more like a misdemeanor, but still, people finally recognize how it's done. You know what, i might as well take back my statement about Team Poison being lame. They might not be the most prolific hackers in the universe, but they certainly bring good share of entertainment.

Terrorists win: part deux

Seriously, who would've guessed? Bunch of guys kill You-Know-Who, and then suddenly they all die in a helicopter crash under mysterious circumstances! Nothing unusual?

I call bullshit. 22 out of 23 people that were directly participating in a highly dubious operation in Pakistan (which sort of resulted in Osama Bin Laden's death, whos body they sort of threw out in the sea... yeah, right) are now dead. Does that surprise me? Nope. 1 person is still alive, but i think he got the point the US government was trying to make - shut up or we shut you up. Anyone else has doubts that there was no Osama Bin Laden, and this operation in Pakistan was something of entirely different nature? We know something happened there, but now that all witnesses are gone forever, and the one remaining will never talk, we will never know for sure. Anyone still believes the terrorists are guys wearing turbans and praying to Allah, and not that nigger USA has for president? The nigger who promised transparency and accountability, and whos administration actively prosecutes or trying to prosecute more whistleblowers than all other administrations combined?

Truth to be told, i had high hopes for Obama. Well, he's black, yada yada, he looked different from others. Turns out that he isn't any different. Thus, he's not black. He's a nigger. He's an asshole nigger president. He betrayed trust of people who voted for him, he betrayed the world, who expected him to be different from Bush family.

Consumanity

Yep, you're right, another age-old rant about consumerism. But this time i think i actually have a point here. Not that every other guy didn't have a point too, but i think this... well... ah, fuck it, here it is.

I'm tired of everything being geared towards consumption. And when i say everything, i mean literally that - everything. Do you know anyone who can make something with his own hands? Here's a surprise for ya - not only people don't do stuff anymore, they're not allowed to do stuff. Fuck, i can't even install a DSL line myself, i am required to call a "certified specialist", who is usually a recently graduated (probably indian) asshat who doesn't know his STP from his STD. I can't do anything without "voiding the warranty", i can't open my laptop, i can't install new RAM - i am required to pay 50-60 bucks to do what i could do in 10 minutes. Warranty was supposed to be about things not breaking, not about "don't touch anything or you're SOL".

I am also tired of the devices moving into consumption-only mode. Have you seen mobile phones recently? Tablets? New GUI's from Microsoft? Big-ass icons optimized for touch screens? All these bells and whistles, gazillion ways to "socialize", to "share media", to play music, to get on facebook, twitter, myspace, lastfm and chat with your gazillion friends, in-app purchases... Every app wants you to buy something. Stream a movie, buy piece of music, buy new levels for some stupid game, buy more news, buy more this, buy more that. Everything moving to HTML5 and Javascript, "immersive" applications, "rich" media and the likes. Now who needs that? Certainly not me. Guess what - i use my devices to do work. And when i'm working i don't need these bells and whistles, these big-ass icons, immersive and rich bullshit, integration with gazillion of social networks and all that jive. I need them to work. To work fast. And to do what i need them to do.

The problem is, we developers are part of general public too. We are more important part of general public. Without the developers there will not be any "immersive", "rich" and "integrated" applications for those Joe Sixpack assholes to use. You can make this shit all you want, but please don't leave us developers in the cold. Visual Studio is now moving to HTML5/Javascript, Windows 8 will supposedly drop .NET in favour of HTML5/Javascript... What if i want to write a C app? Like if i want it to work fast and on low system level? Do you want me to write drivers in Javascript?

Binary > source

I am currently using Linux (more specifically, Kubuntu 11.04) as my primary OS. I think it's a brilliant distro. Everything works out of the box (for me), wireless surprisingly works even better than it ever did under Windows 7. However, over and over i see this stupid argument every once in a while - (K)Ubuntu is bloated, binary distros suck, apt sucks, Gentoo/Arch/Slackware ftw etc.

Regarding bloat. My KDE/Kubuntu installation with a whole lot of shit on it works faster than my almost virgin Windows 7 ever did. I don't know what happened to it, honestly - at first it was pretty snappy and i was really happy with it after Windows XP (i skipped Vista). But over time it began being slow. I don't know what is the reason, since i usually turn off all that BitLocker, indexing and other useless crap that comes with Windows 7 Ultimate. KDE, on the other hand, even has full-text search enabled (Strigi), not to mention Nepomuk, Akonadi and countless other apps that are constantly running in the background. It still outperforms Windows 7, even with half-baked no-3D-acceleration nouveau driver.

As for apt - i can't really comment on that, since i only seriously used apt. I did try Gentoo at some point and have a slight idea of what emerge is, but i probably have no more experience with emerge than i have with RPM (i started out my Linux way with Mandrake 8). However, i can say that i never ran into any problems with apt. Of course, all the graphical package managers still suck balls when shit gets real and i have to resort to aptitude every once in a while (which isn't Ubuntu's or apt's fault anyway, should have fucked with alpha repos in the first place), but still apt rules. At least i can't say anything bad about apt.

And now to my core argument. Source distributions suck. Compiling from source sucks. Binary is the way to go. Why? Let's see.

I saw many people saying something like "i don't see what's the problem with running configure && make && make install". However, there are several major problems with that statement. First of all, having a compiler on my system is a potential security risk. Even on a desktop. Second, why do these people assume that every Linux user is a software developer? Why do i have to have a compiler, a gigabyte of development libraries and a version control system installed? It's fine with me, i don't have a problem with that, but your average Joe is not a developer, nor he wants to be one. Compiling from source sucks. It really only makes sense for the developers, because they can check out the fresh code, compile it, test it, debug it, whatever. It doesn't make any sense for the average user.

Finally, source-based distributions. They suck. I remember installing Gentoo on my old crappy laptop in hopes that the legendary "performance" and "customizability" will make enough of a difference to breath in a second life in that laptop that used to run Windows 2000. You know what happened next? I started installing software. It's really fun, you know. Open Office was compiling for 10 hours. 10 fucking hours!!! After i installed Open Office, XFCE, bunch of other stuff (another two days of compiling shit), you know what happened? The distribution just worked. It worked no better and no worse than, say, Xubuntu. Same shit. And believe me, i took my time and learned a lot about optimization flags, compiler flags and all that shit that Gentoo users fap to. It made no difference.

However, the worst thing was still ahead. I received an update notification. For OpenOffice. Another 10 hours of compilation? Thanks, but no thanks. And you know what i did? I said "fuck it". No more Gentoo. No more compiling. Binary distributions rule. You know why? Because they tend to work without spending endless hours compiling and optimizing to squeeze those extra 2% of performance. Of course, someone might find appealing to live on the bleeding edge of FLOSS, but i just want my computer to work without hickups. I am somewhat of a software developer, i have no problem reading source code or even compiling from source, but seriously, if i wasn't a developer - why would i have to have a compiler and development libraries on my machine?!

Security of your shit

I've been recently watching this whole LulzSec, Web Ninjas, The Jester etc. hacking theater. And i must say i'm impressed how much bullshit is there just waiting to be uncovered.

First of all, you guys don't get any of my respect as hackers. LulzSec are just script kiddies. "The Jester" is no less a script kiddie than LulzSec, and he has a dumb alias. Web Ninjas, Team Poison and all those "doxerz" trying to uncover each others identities... Same. Lame attempts at trying to prove the world that they have any meaning. All in all, classic case of unwarranted self importance.

However, LulzSec do earn my respect as human beings. IIRC they didn't claim that they were uber-cool hackers. In fact, their actions show quite the opposite - the security of the guys they "hack" is SO lame that even a moderately motivated script kiddie can hack it. This mass "hacking" spree happens not because they are good at what they do, but because the security on the other side of the wire is so incredibly poor that even a script kiddie can "hack" it on a daily basis. They show that people don't understand the implications of Internet, and underestimate the importance of online security. In fact, i know first hand that managers are often very reluctant to provide additional funds for anything related to computers, thinking that it's a complete waste of time and money. Security? What security? Get back to work, asshole. Hell, a lot of system administrators, programmers, web designers and the like are doing what they are not supposed to do (fixing chairs, cleaning toilets etc.), because management doesn't understand that if a sysadmin does nothing - it's because he's a brilliant sysadmin and everything works as intended.

These hacks also show how reluctant are people to change passwords and engage in basic online hygiene. I think part of the reason is because it's not convenient. I mean, there is no easy way to remember the passwords and share them across multiple devices. Yes, many people hate the very idea of passwords and use words like "madrid" or "1234" for passwords, but those of us savvy enough to know about the risks still don't do that - because there is no easy way to do that. Only recently, when i switched to Kubuntu instead of Windows i started to employ these techniques. But anyway, back on topic.

The Jester is a narcissistic idiot suffering from severe delusions. You know, your typical "MERIKKUH!!!" guy, which just happens to have some rudimentary "hacking" skills. American patriotism my ass. OK, so waging completely pointless wars is OK, but uncovering people who help americans fight against their own country is not acceptable? Yeah, right. Somehow i think that "the jester" isn't really a hacker, and is not even a real person. Everything about him looks too "hackerish" for him to be a real hacker (or even a real person). More likely it's a media bait, something to newspapers to write about and Joe Sixpack to read (sure it sounds scary for a dumb fuck to read about the mysterious hacker which calls himself The Jester).

And did you read his blog? Yes, the dude actually has a blog! And an IRC channel dedicated to his precious self! Well, twitter account goes without saying, although this "JESTER ✔ Genuine" looks incredibly lame. All in all, lame blog full of graphics and formatting (incredibly hard to read, dude, srsly, get a real web designer!), self-admiration, narcissism, narrow-mindedness, self-righteousness and pretty much all the things i hate about people. Real hackers don't ever do that. Take a look at personal pages of ANY knowledgeable person in IT - FLOSS project participators, software developers... Take a look at kernel.org - does it look like Christmas? It doesn't. Because these people don't have time for narcissism, they do actual work and they know their stuff. So yes, "jester" is just another script kiddie, coupled with your typical redneck american patriotism attitude and a desire for (undeserved) fame.

And all these "doxing" attempts by both The Hamster and other idiots (Web Ninjas etc). Do you really think gathering a bunch of ratted out IRC logs, tweets and whois entries isn't lame? It is lame. It's what Anonymous were doing for years without calling themselves "hackers". You gotta do more than that to impress me.