Month: October 2005

Now this is just stupid:

In response to a question on the role of open source software in Africa, Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, said that cost is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160 (£91).

“It’s easy to focus on cost and say how much is a product, but at the end of the day it’s the total impact that’s important. You can give people free software or computers, but they won’t have the expertise to use it,” he said.

Now, this argument — that expertise is only available in the Microsoft world — is just stupid. The whole point of Free software is that you can go as far down the rabbit hole as you want, increasing your expertise, all the way down to learning the source code.

Free software empowers people to use computers in a way that helps them; Microsoft makes people dependent on and subservient to a profit-seeking enterprise.

Pretty straightforward.

When the rain won’t stop, I don’t walk as much. Wet isn’t so bad, neither is cold, but wet and cold don’t go together well.

When the rain won’t stop, I miss being outdoors with friends. Moving through the woods, with an axe, getting things done, working outside.

When the rain won’t stop, I become more aware of just how sacred my space is.

When the rain won’t stop, I miss the stars, though their light is uncountably old. I miss knowing which phase the moon is in. I feel like they are so many friends I’ve lost touch with…

When the rain won’t stop, I like to cook pans full of rich, savory foods.

When the rain won’t stop, I am thankful that I live at the top of a hill.

When the rain won’t stop, I like to go to new beaches, walking across the sand to an island that only becomes so at high tide. The waves are large and crash into the rocks with particular intensity, a beautiful fury, unrelenting and without remorse.

When the rain won’t stop, it makes sitting in an office building for twelve hours at a time somehow more tolerable.

I worked all last weekend, and this week I’ve been listening to Freakwitch demo recordings and working on the typesetting gig. I’ve also been trying to spend more quality time with my daughter.

Not much else to report….

I saw Dead Can Dance tonight. The show was quite good. It was the 2 main people in the band, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, along with a half-dozen backing musicians. There was a synth player, 2 percussionists, and 3 multi-instrumentalists.

The seats were amazing. We were literally 5th row center, right in front of the stage. I was close enough to watch the contortions in Lisa Gerrard’s throat as she sang. It was incredible; this woman is a genetic wonder with considerable training and practice. Turns out she is sick; this explains the few bad notes I heard from her tonight. I felt bad for her; her energy seemed off, she looked like she was in pain. Even her smile was strained. She has an incredible voice, and tends to get a lot of the press for Dead Can Dance.

But Brendan is one of my favorite singers, very underrated with a haunting baritone. And he was spot on tonight. One of the first notes he sang tonight was a bit off, but he just wasn’t loose. Once he settled in, he didn’t miss a note the rest of the night. A strong, strong voice. He also is a great acoustic guitar player, and quite proficient in drums, bass, and several other hand instruments lying around. A solid performance.

Thanks to my friends who hosted us and acquired the tickets. Masterful job in ticket acquisition! A great night.

Man, it’s a busy time. I’ve been working some extra hours at my weekend gig, my band is rehearsing more regularly than ever (with great fruit just waiting to explode from the branches), the book I was hired to typeset 9 months ago finally got out of the copy editing stage, and I get to go see Dead Can Dance tomorrow night at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.

I like doing this typesetting thing. I think I’d rather be doing that for my job than wageslaving. For this book, if I had 1 or 2 of these gigs per month, I could afford to quit my job. Something to think about….

The authors of this piece interviewed dozens of people in the New Orleans area, and came up with a compelling list of 25 questions that need to be answered. These questions are a reflection of concerns the locals have in the aftermath of New Orleans’ destruction. A must read; normally when people bitch about the government (myself included) it’s in the abstract, but these questions are very specific.

…fall arrived. Yesterday began with blustery winds, literally blowing our trash can off our porch. Whoosh. Then the rain came, and when we were on our way out of Portland, we could see the edge of the storm, a long front, a line of clouds straight as a ruler as far as the eye could see, looking like a huge blanket inching up to the horizon.

But then the sun sank below the edge of the front, and I saw the most vivid rainbow I’ve seen in years. They truly are majestic illusions. At one point, I was driving down a 2-lane highway through a forest; the trees were tall and right up on the edge of the road. The road was straight on this particular stretch, and rising up from the edge of the road on the horizon was a very wide and vivid rainbow, curving up and just to the left.

For the past few days, the low temperatures have been in the 40s and 50s. All that wind the other day blew summer away.

I’m glad autumn is my favorite time of year…