Open Source

If there is one drawback to the proletariat, it is their aimless inability to work together and solve their problems. They have all the power and innovation in the world, but no cohesion. Once cohesion is accomplished, they cease being the proletariat, and start being a club.

Clubs can get things done.

In the world of open source computing there are, approximately 345,986 different clubs. about 100,000 of them are making operating systems (which is almost a complete waste of time because you can only use one at a time, really, and if you're using more you are really just dicking around), the rest are devoted to making various programs one might actually use.

All of these half a million operating systems, I might add, have basically the same objective. They want to be useful. They want to be pretty. They want to have style and form and application. Some of them even have the audacious goal of being more practical and aesthetic than the mainstream systems. (This job, by the way, is getting easier and easier and easier.)

Just putting in my two cents to the two souls who will read it: why not pool resources to these programs that will actually be used? The normal person is only gonna use their computer for a purpose, not spend hours beautifying it and researching which of the 8,987,969 distributions of Linux is right for them. Remember, choice is paralyzing and debilitating. And a huge waste of time.

I want a superior office software suite. LibreOffice is alright.... I suppose it is getting better. I have not been able to get version 4 because of another hiccup with the system: it is hard to download and install. There: two problems which need a better solution.

Keystone

Please, for the love of all that is sacred, holy, and good in our world, do not let the Tar Sands be extracted. This is my short public prayer. Nothing good will come from this extraction; it will only be the loss of lives innocent and deserving.

Please do not let it happen. To all people everywhere.

REmove REduce REuse REcycle REpurpose

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

They are in order for a reason.

First, we reduce what we take.

Then we reuse what we have.

Last, we recycle what we cannot use anymore.

But there are really more steps.

First, we remove. More than reducing what we use, we simply use none. Don't buy from what you don't need. Just don't have. The mentality really is a return to a neolithic era. Some are rather against. Some are for. I am not asking everyone give up their cars and pills and computers and junk. Just the junk that you do not need or do not use and this is different for everyone.

Reduce: get high-efficiency bulbs and appliances. Use natural light and heat. Put on a sweater. All that jazz. Print double sided. Steam instead of boil. Walk instead of drive (although this could be upgraded to Remove for the strong-willed).

Reuse what you can. drink out of food containers and use them as Tupperware. Be creative. Everything has a different way to be reused.

Recycling. The most popular. Throw all that stuff that you cannot reuse anymore into a bin for someone to make into something use-able again. Plastic melted back down into plastic.

Repurpose. When the quality of a material is so depleted that it cannot be recycled into what it once was, re-purpose it into something else. It may not be that useful. It may not be reusable again afterward. A great example is glass being used to layer landfills. It is being used. This stuff that would otherwise be utter waste. But: it still has a job. In the landfill it may be, but it has a job there. It's better than nothing.

Regift. This could be added. Giving to the Goodwill or what-have-you. It is, as far as environmental stewardship goes, not as good as using it yourself. Because it might just be thrown away. The store might have to because they are over-flowing, or its new owner might because they just don't care. But it is better than you throwing it away now.