Humans have been programmed to categorize things. At the very low level, we divide our world into “safe” and “unsafe” (false binary?).  So, how do we determine how to label something… or someone? We look for differences and how familiar is the subject in relation to ourselves. Again, some of this is instinct and understandably automatic. This is important from a survival standpoint. One the other hand, is it possible that this reaction could poison our ability to progress and actually be detrimental to our survival?

Out of practicality, we have divided our planet into regions, continents, countries, etc. The problem with this is that we must now categorize into “safe” and “unsafe”. Every difference creates path dependency toward one of these categories. Maybe we should stop inventing differences. Could our “biological programming” be leaking into our socially constructed views of the world? Perhaps that’s where nationalism comes from.

So, what if we had the chance to redo the planet? Would we want to change anything? At this stage, it’s quite difficult to rethink borders since we have found good reasons to kill each other (if for nothing other than the fact that we belong to a different groups). However, maybe we can change the way that we deal with less concrete things or new things.

Guor Marial (Source)

“What if we just took the flags out of the Olympics?” — Chuck (Ubuntu Audiocast)

Well, Chuck, what if we took the flags out of Ubuntu? Crazy talk! We need to organize the community based on geographical location for practical reasons. Yes, but we also need to make sure that we are not creating division by doing so. We all are one. We are all part of Ubuntu. So, when the Local Community (LoCo) was conceived, I believe that it was to express this oneness wherever we happen to be at the time. In other words, when we are in Vancouver, then we are Ubuntu in Vancouver. This is not a different Ubuntu from the one in any other part of the world… or universe for that matter. Maybe the community thing has fallen and become denominational and overly political. With too much focus on the governing the community, it is easy to lose focus of the oneness of Ubuntu. And, the “unsafe” categorization might kick in and make things really annoying.

In order to follow the true essence of ubuntu, we need to step back out of our constructs for a moment and give ourselves some fresh air. If in the future we were to go to Mars, for example, would we go there as one human race, or as different “tribes”?

Well, the future is now! I present to you the Ubuntu Mars Team where we don’t have to be bound by the current institutions of Earth, and where we can all be one in Ubuntu.

1337 Would Be N337

I’ll always remember that what initially attracted me to Ubuntu is also what initially turned me away from it as well. Back in the good old days, I would spend my free time installing, what I then knew as, different “Linux distros”.  Yes, that’s what got me excited (don’t judge!). The reason why I kept trying new things was because I could never quite reach the functionality that I wanted… until I met Ubuntu. On first install (even back in 2005), it just worked. However, at the time, it was too easy. I was so used to the pain of getting my mouse to work that I actually missed it. I had come from a world where this thing that started with an L was supposed to be difficult to setup, and if I could do it, then I would be 1337!

After promptly formatting my hard drive, I went back to the usual masochistic distro hopping. A year or so went by, but I was continually drawn back to Ubuntu (obviously…here I am). It was different. There was something attractive about the community, the ethos, and the name (for which I researched the pronunciation), but that’s not what this story is about. As the year went by, I also realized that I clearly have issues about needing things to fix… but that’s not really the story either.

What the Heck is the Story?!

Here I am, eight years later in the good new days, and I’m happily doing my best to “fix” things in Ubuntu. And, it also kind of just works. This oxymoronical situation keeps me satisfied, but I’m also still concerned by the “it just works” idea.

Maybe it’s my condition that causes me make problems out of nothing, or maybe there is something to be considered, but we must be wary of becoming complacent. “It just works,” is a phrase commonly used by people who are patrons to over-priced devices that don’t allow you to do anything outside of what the producers what you do to with them. Understandably, the masses really don’t want to spend their free time trying to get things to work. So, in order to make Ubuntu attractive, it has to be approachable.

It Still Works!

The problem is that when there is so much focus on making things “just work,” sometimes we are afraid to change things once they do work. This often leads to stagnation. I believe that some projects have hindered innovation by not allowing the community to interact with the development process, and trying to promote the image of perfection. However, it’s important that we (everyone) be open to the idea that things are not perfect, which is, in fact, the reality regardless of how polished things are on the outside, and be willing to participate in making them better. “If it ain’t broke, then we’re not trying hard enough.” This doesn’t mean that we become lazy and unrefined with our creation, but rather, we develop a culture in which it is safe to make mistakes, explore our human side and learn something.

So, rather that just working, I like the idea that things can do more than work. They can still work and be solid at the core, but also be free-flowing, organic, and always new. This is what Ubuntu is to me.

A machine talks in binary–a system of 1s and 0s; on or off; true or false. This base-2 system has allowed us to program machines to do our bidding…sort of. However, in order to program a machine, one must often think like a machine.  Who (or what) is programming whom?

Binary is not only a machine language. It can be seen in the functions of the human race as well. Over time, society has adopted a bunch of “false” binaries that are still prevalent in the world. Regardless of what you or I believe, it is evident that these binaries do not define us accurately though they may control much of society.

Here are some examples:

• With me or against me
• White or non-white (people)
• Male or female
• Producers or consumers
• Windows or Mac
• “Linux” or proprietary
• Software or not-software
• Us or them

Only a Sith Deals in Absolutes!

*Well, in reality, there are true binaries, but the point is that we like to overuse the concept. There is a tendency to want/need to categorize, label, sort things according to the familiar. In all fairness, our brains automatically sort and label, but it is up to our higher thinking to decide what to do with that and determine the path to follow.

So, what does this have to do with Ubuntu?
(Hint: Ubuntu doesn’t fit into any of the lone categories listed above).

Preaching to the Choir

From a marketing standpoint it’s clear that we don’t need to convince anyone here that Ubuntu is unique and a choice beyond trends of the past. However, from a marketing perspective, it’s interesting to see how people might be thinking, and how it’s important to correctly present Ubuntu. It’s not just one thing, it’s not something that you can compare to other things, and it’s not an alternative. Ubuntu is Ubuntu. And, we are making it. Let us all make it together.

01010101 01100010 01110101 01101110 01110100 01110101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101111 01100110 01110100 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100101

Having worked in (and eaten in) the food service industry in North America, I am quite familiar with the “necessity” of tipping. Personally, I find it kind of annoying on either end. It’s not that I don’t enjoy receiving money of gratitude or giving it where it is due, but when it is expected just as custom rather than bonus, it tends to dilute the appreciation. (For those at UDS-R, did you notice that tipping in Copenhagen wasn’t expected?).

We tip, often mindlessly, in the service community (in my mindlessness, I sometimes forget), so why not tip our Ubuntu communities? But, the kind of tips that I’m talking about are slightly different. Like money, people in our community can all appreciate a good tip. “Good tipping” means giving a tip that can be used by anyone and at the appropriate time. Giving these tips and receiving them, and then recycling them back into the “economy”

Tip #1 – Source

This particular tip caught my eye. It’s general enough that anyone can use it, and yet it’s specific enough to the service at hand, and can be appreciated by those involved in the community.

Let’s tip each other for good Ubuntu service. What’s your best tip for promoting and building Ubuntu?

Ribbit! For more information click HERE

Trolling Toads are of the family Buffoonidae and are members of the order Annoya. They are considered to be the most widespread annoyans in the free-speech spaces that exist online, i.e. in the webosphere. The sole, sad raison d’être of these toads is to elicit negative emotional reactions from other well-meaning creatures in the environment thereby derailing meaningful discourse and creating an atmosphere of hopelessness.

Characteristics

Trolling Toads are widespread and have been observed in the wild on every internet continent with the notable exceptions of the regions Intelligia, Logica, and Consideratis. They inhabit a variety of natural environments, ranging from blogs to forums. Most toads lay low by seeding the comment areas of other internet content. On particularly dangerous genus, Journaloridicula, is an exception to this rule and members of this genus may actually develop their own content in order to provoke action from members of the community, or to confuse the public-at-large.

Trolling Toads are trooth-less [sic] and very warty in appearance. They have a pair of parrot-oid glands in their heads that excrete toxic ideas derived from hearsay in the environment. Buffoontoxin is the general term. If the toxin gets into another creature, it reacts violently and its soul is instantly withered, allowing the toad to feed off of the negative energy and activate secondary reproductive organs. Male toads possess a Bidder’s opinion. Under the right mailing list or forum conditions, the opinion may become an active topic and the toad, in effect, becomes a flamemonger.

Mating & Reproduction

Trolling Toads are known to emit a loud and distinctive reddit noise (pronounced: ribbit) in an apparent display of auditory juvenile bravado. Current theory indicates that this might be an attempt to attract suitable mates. However, there have been no correlated observations of mate-attraction using this tactic. In fact, recent field observations suggest that the opposite is likely true, and as a result Trolling Toads are currently unable to reliably reproduce and there populations are in steady decline.

Safety Considerations

If a Trolling Toad is encountered in the wild, it is advised that they be asked their name. That is generally enough action to completely shut down the parrot-oid glands. Toads are unable to cope with accountability. If Buffoontoxin is observed in an environment (usually accompanied by a putrid smell resembling decomposing marine life) the best action is to simply allow it to naturally and quickly evaporate by ignoring the excretion or by deleting it outright, without explanation.

Taxonomy

The family Buffoonidae contains an indefinite number of genera and species, some of which have yet to be discovered.

References

• Troll (Internet) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29
• True Toad – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_toad

External links

Amplify the Signal (Co-conspirator)

Making Ubuntu Friendly more… friendly

When was the last time you ran “System Testing”? If you search in the dash for “friendly” or “system testing” then you’ll be able to run the wizard to see how “friendly” your system is with Ubuntu.

That’s totally wizard! But, why would I want to do this? Because I’m friendly, so I want to submit my friendly results to friendly dot ubuntu dot com, so that I can help other people who want to check friendly dot ubuntu dot com for friendly ubuntu systems. Then we can all be friendly with each other!

Still not friendly enough? Well, how about a changing the design? In the Design Theatre session, there was some discussion about how to make System Testing more enjoyable (I have other vocabulary). But, seriously, the testing results are important to the community, so making it easier to complete correctly was one of the topics discussed.

If you run System Testing, you will see that the interface has already improved visually:

System Testing. It will help you make friends.

The discussion included talk about the location and wording of buttons, as well as icon association and device considerations (eg. Nexus 7). But, perhaps the most interesting part of the discussed “design” was the design for motivation. The idea of gamification was presented: there should be some fun involved in the testing process, and there should be a reward for doing it. That sounds like it would go well with Ubuntu Accomplishments.

Design lesson of the day: more fun! (I sense a trend)

Ubuntu is meant to be fun and friendly. Let’s continue to make Ubuntu this way.

Reported live from the fun and friendly UDS-R Blog-O-Rama

I’m thinking of buying something online. So, I open Firefox, type in the url of the place where I think I might find what I want, then I search within the site for the product.

But, I’m running Ubuntu. So, instead, I simply go to the dash and search within the shopping lens (not the “Amazon lens”). Currently, only Amazon results show, but the future of the shopping lens will be more promising. This is a powerful feature of Ubuntu.

The following is a summary of my interpretation (might need editing) of the UDS-R community session on the shopping lens:

In 12.10 we started to accentuate one of the best, unique features in Ubuntu: online dash search. In case we forgot,that feature has been there for quite a while (video lens), but now it is, by default, part of the home lens. In fact, the dash was originally envisioned as an online tool, and that’s exactly what it is and will continue to be.

So, what currently happens when you search with the shopping lens? With no user-specific information, the shopping search data (aggregate data like search terms, number of searches) are collected in order to return better search results in the future. Results are returned from various sources. Currently, only Amazon results have been implemented by default. But, that’s only the beginning. (See XiaoDong Yi’s music search ideas)

Well, then what exactly happens when you search within a web browser on a specific website? I don’t really know.

Thankfully we have access to those working on the features of Ubuntu, and we can find out answers about things on our side. But, maybe we need some clear, non-legalese descriptions of the features out in the public. This should help to dispel any fears or negativity, and narrow down actual problems instead of media-generated ones. This communication is important for preserving a positive impression of the project.

The goal of the project is to respect privacy and to provide, by default, the “best user experience.” What is “best” is based on the same idea that Ubuntu is meant for an everyday person. And, there has been positive response to online dash search, which is why it is now in the home lens by default.

The next step is adding more dash control by default. More fun. Less fear.

The new shopping lens in Ubuntu 12.10 has given us an expanded look at how the dash search might be useful for online searches. This topic will be discussed in more depth during Community Round Table discussions.

During the “Enhance Dash with online music searching” session, XiaoDong Yi described his plans for developing a system for categorizing and searching online music. This would involve a few phases, one of which would be an indexing server that aggregates music search data. This could be tag clouds, genres, or other unique IDs that would help us find music from various online sources. Our Ubuntu desktop would communicate with the server rather than directly with the music resources.

Yi explained that people in China are used to obtaining music online for free. Big companies like Baidu pay music resources so that they have the right to allow distribution of music through search engines, essentially for free. In turn, the company will gain traffic and eventually revenue through other means. This model works very will with Yi’s dash-search idea. One of the challenges will be managing distribution rights for different countries and making deals with music providers.

Yi also proposes personalized search and previews within the dash. This means that it would be possible to receive search results based on geolocation and genre preferences. We would also be able to listen to a preview directly in the dash. Based on the mockup (see above) there might be a music player integrated directly in the lens.

I look forward to seeing how music services continue to grow with Ubuntu.

“I spit in your general lowly direction!”

The 1337 114m4 (“leet” llama) is of above-average intelligence but is a socially-abrasive mammal that roams the lands surrounding the The Great Chasm. In an attempt to prove its 1337 (“elite”) status, the 1337 114m4 will disrupt any species that it considers to have a “lesser” ability to understand technical minutia.

Behaviour

The 1337 114m4 gets its name from the elitist behaviour that it displays around other animals. Despite appearing to be a social creature, the 1337 114m4 considers itself too good for lowly community efforts, especially when such efforts are face-to-face, or would bring an understanding of “secret knowledge” to the masses, or involve genuine social interaction.

114m4′s can be seen “uprooting” community garden plots (“Ubuntu Lands”) and shunning the simplicity and ease of such commons. Instead the 1337 114m4 insists on seed-bombing (compiling) the gardens with its own strains of crops (primarily kernels of bland cattle corn) for personal consumption, while claiming that Ubuntu Lands will never be “free enough” or cool enough. Any default set-ups or presentations of the Lands are to be reviled and spat upon in disgust. The lands must be totally stripped of all beautification details or style before the 114m4 will occupy them.

The 1337 114m4 is particularly fond of PGP key signing “parties”, not because it wants to establish identity, but because it has a need to prove a supreme-mathematics-demi-god status to those with smaller brains.

Guard Behaviour
1337 114m4′s are so protective of their “1337″ status that they will often spit on any community creature that is working to bring projects of value to the masses. Other guard behaviour consists of intimidation tactics, such as reciting “114m4 mantra”, one-upping any tip or piece of advice, or simply chanting RTFM.

Reproduction

Unknown.

Conservation

1337 114m4′s have been heading for extinction since the 1990s with the simplification of formerly arcane interfaces and systems. However, due to its irritating nature no one has developed plans to further catalogue or preserve this animal.

References

Co-conspirator: Randall Ross

Llama

You gonna get served

Like an unwanted house guest, this spiky, slow-moving and antisocial being is known to insert itself into otherwise harmonious discourse. Urchins often act as obstacles and have been known to derive sustenance and even pleasure from disrupting unity wherever it is encountered. It spends its whole life by deceiving others and spreading negativity.

Taxonomy

Ulterior Urchins are members of the phylum trollata. This is not a well-know fact, as urchins are able to mimic characteristics the phylum majorata and confuse the public into thinking that they speak for the masses.

Historically, locals have referred to the Ulterior Urchin by their Aboriginal name, uu’wana (/ʊˈvɑːnɑː/ oo-vah-nah). Uu’wana are notorious for causing injury to local surfing communities. Urchin beds disrupt the unity between the surfers. In recent times they have infested much of the world wide waters (www).

Anatomy

Feet
The feet of uu’wana are located on the oral side of the body very close to the mouth. Thus, when trying to conduct any sort of movement, the process is thought of as the urchin “running its mouth.”

Mouth/anus
Save for the location of the feet, the mouth and the anus sides on the uu’wana are virtually identical. The mouth lies on the lower surface or oral side, while the anus is located on the upper side.

Spines
Uu’wana are covered in sharp, rigid spines that ward off friends, family, and other creatures that care to know more about the urchin.

Reproductive organs
Unlike other urchins, uu’wana are monoecious, and hence contain both male and female reproductive organs. They are capable of intake and output of the negativity gamete.

Reproduction

Although these creatures are often found in clusters resembling a mine field (urchin beds), uu’wana are very antisocial. The reproduction process is, thus, nothing short of a miracle. Proper cognitive evolution would actually see the end of this bizarre species. The urchins slowly flock to urchin beds under the false pretext of wanting to commune, and eject their negativity into the surrounding waters in hopes of reproducing. Unaware of the ulterior motives of others, uu’wana are continually fooled into reproducing other’s negativity. The negativity is taken in by the unsuspecting urchins in the bed and is either spewed back out into the public waters or internalized resulting in further production. The negative gametes of uu’wana can typically pass through about ten nearby urchins before being internalized. The urchin beds that uu’wana shamelessly flock to often give off the false impression of a major community. In reality, urchin beds are a result of a very potent minority that wishes to spread its negativity.

Precautionary Measures and Remediation

One must learn to spot the Ulterior Urchin and take precautionary steps to inhibit its infiltration into healthy communities. Look for signs of unfounded hatred and generally bristly behaviour. If an Ulterior Urchin should find its way into your community, you can utilize the “unity” antidote, which effectively links local ecosystems together with a seamless shell-creature presence that naturally wards off the urchins.

References

Co-conspirator: Randall Ross

Sea Urchin