Without a Traceroute

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Ubuntu makes the NYT

January 12th, 2009 · Free software, Sweden

So I’m alive. I felt a little bit better for a couple days, but now I’m back to feeling awful again. My throat hurts like crazy and it’s preventing me from sleeping and eating. Tomorrow I’m going to try to go see a doctor. All things considered, I guess I should be happy I got really sick in Sweden, and not like, Croatia.

There was a decent article in the New York Times a couple days ago about Ubuntu.

It’s always nice to see Linux getting attention in the mainstream press, although as usual, the author doesn’t really seem to grock free software. The article is in the business section, and the author seems to have a lot of trouble with the idea that software can be something other than a product, that software development can be something other than a business. So we get quotes like the following:
“CANONICAL’S model makes turning a profit difficult.”

“All told, Canonical’s annual revenue is creeping toward $30 million, Mr. Shuttleworth said.
That figure won’t worry Microsoft.”

“Canonical’s business model seems more like charity than the next great business story.”

Also, the NYT writer completely fails to draw attention to the distinction between “free as in beer” and “free as in freedom”. I realize that the average user probably only cares about the former, but it’s the latter that really makes free software a socially significant phenomenon. It’s the difference between software that obeys its user (you) and software that obeys some company that wrote it.

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Caution: Overshare ahead

January 13th, 2009 · Sweden, Travel

Today was pretty awful. I spent basically the entire day dealing with the Swedish medical system. They were mostly nice, but it was incredibly draining trying to navigate an unfamiliar system when I’m sick. Also, it was expensive because I’m not Swedish.

First, I went to the main hospital because that seemed like the easiest place to start. I took a number and waited for about an hour at the ER, only to be told that in Sweden the ER is exclusively for serious emergencies. They told me I needed to go over to this “Vardcentralen Eden” which is some sort of clinic or doctors’ office. I didn’t know how to get there, and they told me there was no good bus line, so I took a cab, which felt like an inexcusable luxury.
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On methods of entry

January 15th, 2009 · Hacker culture, Photos, Sweden

Today I felt healthy enough to where the prospect of eating food seemed appealing rather than off-putting for the first time in several days. Let’s hear it for antibiotics, easily humanity’s best totally accidental discovery since fire (I’m actually taking regular old penicillin).

I went grocery shopping and discovered that while you can get Campbell’s soup in Sweden, you can only get mushroom, tomato and asparagus; sadly, not chicken noodle. Also, the cans are weirdly small and metric. Every company in the world seems to round down to the nearest metric size.

I promise this story goes somewhere (not necessarily anywhere interesting).

What could this be?

What could this be?

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Spamusing

January 16th, 2009 · Sweden

I received the following throughly entertaining spam email yesterday:

Ref. Number: NM/BC921245/KY17
STAATS LOTERIJ HEADQUARTERS
Lotto Winner of 1,000,000.00 Euros
Ticket number: 46939
ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement of the winners of the STAATS LOTTERY POGRAMS
held on 13th January 2009.Your Company or your personal e-mail address is attached to winning number
ticket number: 46949 with Batch number NM/207361/WOP drew the lucky numbers 887-13-865-39-10-83,
and consequently won in the first lottery category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay
out of One Million EUROS (1,000,000.00) in cash credited to file REF NO: NL/BC7765468/WJ14 and Ticket
number: 46949.

This is from total prize money of 10,000,000.00 Million Euros, shared among the Ten international winners in
this category.All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot system drawn from 21,000
names, 3,000 names from each continent, as part of International “E-MAIL” Promotions Program, which is
conducted once in everyfour years for our prominent MS WORD user all over the world,and for the
continuos use of E-mail.

Your fund has been deposited in an escrow account with our affiliate Bank here in NETHERLAND, and
insured with your REF NO: NM/BC921245/KY17 and your E-mail address. You are to keep your ref. number
and Ticket number from the public, until you have been processed and your money remitted to your
personal account.We hope with your prize, you will be happy to promote the use of E-mail and the use of
MS WORD. To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims department by email or call for
processing and remittance of your prize money to you. Your assigned claims Director contact is:

MR.ROBERT ANDERSON
TEL/FAX: +31-847-308-238.
Email:sttslotagtrobertanderson@gmail.com

He is to help you in claiming your due prize. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than the
31st January, 2009. All funds not claimed on or before the fixed date will be penalized accordingly. NOTE:
In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and ticket
numbers in all correspondences with your claims director. All response should be sent to
sttslotagtrobertanderson@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Mrs.Bonita Larron
For STAATS LOTTERY, NETHERLANDS.

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Cyber-homeless

January 18th, 2009 · Sweden, Travel

Due to the arrival of visiting relatives, I had to move out of the place I’ve been staying for the last week or so. I was planning on staying at the local hostel, but neglected to make a reservation. I sort of figured, “Who the heck goes to Malmö in January?” and assumed getting a bed would be no problem. Whoops. No room at the inn tonight. I made a reservation for tomorrow, but was left stranded for this evening. Faced with a choice between ~90 euro for a fancy-ish hotel room, or ~10 euro to hang out in an all-night internet cafe, I made my selection. It’s actually one of those gaming cafe places, and it’s surprisingly busy at 5 am. I am vastly under-utilizing a serious gaming PC for light web surfing and lighter dozing.

However, Europe has absolutely nothing on Japan when it comes to all-night internet places for people with no place to sleep, where they even have a name for such people, the 90s-sounding “cyber-homeless”:

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