Too sick to write…

Too sick to write at the moment. Shall continue the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Review as soon as possible.

Review: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin – Part 1

Review: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin – Part 1

I started testing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS at the Beta2 version. I was immediately impressed by the Unity Desktop, the Unity Side Panel, and the HUD. It “almost” perfectly fullfilled my needs as far as a desktop is concerned, and with the minor addition of a few extra software packages and tweakers, it can quickly be turned in to the perfect Custom Unity Desktop. Even the default Unity Desktop is impressive and functional, don’t get me wrong. I really do love it. It just needed a woman’s touch to make it perfect!

Here’s my “slightly modified” customised Unity3D Desktop….

The default Unity3D Desktop looks like this…

By using Launchpad PPAs you can easily add “Scopes” and “Lenses” to your Unity HUD. This is a brilliant feature that gives fast easy access to a multitude of services, the system, photos, files, music, documents, websites, portals, etc. I’m really impressed by this feature and it’s ability to speed up my daily tasks considerably.

The Unity 3D Desktop, Sidebar, and HUD are all clean, neat, pratical, and can be tweaked just enough to keep most people happy. On older hardware, you would definitely be looking at using the Unity 2D Desktop, Sidebar and HUD to speed things up and save on system resources. However, if like me you have a system with grunt to spare, then you’re truly set to have a very pleasing user experience.

There is enough software installed by default to keep basic users and newbies happy for a while. The diehards will want to install Synaptic straight away, or use Apt, rather than the big clunky but pretty Ubuntu Software Centre. Being the creative type, I immediately installed all of the UbuntuStudio packages, along with the Edubuntu packages, and a few other Desktop Managers that I like tweaking around in — if I can ever bring myself to log out of Unity again.

With the addition of Avant-Window-Navigator, Synapse, and the additional available Unity-Scopes and Unity-Lenses installed it is possible to navigate to pretty much anything on your system, Wikipedia, Video sites, Music, Software, etc within 2 to 3 keystrokes. I’m impressed with how intuitive it all feels. The addition of Byobu Terminal is wonderful. Byobu has a “strip” at the bottom of the screen giving stacks of useful system information at a glance.

The ISO files come in several different configurations as always. I have tested both the Desktop version and the DVD version, both of which I ran from an 8Gb USB Pendrive. By default, you can either run the Live version from either type, or you can choose to install immediately from either version. I tried both ways on both versions, and everything ran very smoothly all the way through the entire installation process from start to finish. The Live versions ran perfectly on both the Desktop and DVD versions of installation tests.

I have tested Precise on both of my workstation boxes, and also on my Asus 10″ EeePC Netbook. The configuration setup adapted itself faultlessly to each style of system in all 3 cases.

The LTS on this version stands for Long Term Service. As of this version, Ubuntu will be providing continuing support on both the Desktop and Server versions of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for a full 5 years. April 2017 is when the release cycle support will end. This is fatastic for businesses and users with needs of long term system stability. Ubuntu 14 LTS is due for release in 2014, and will also provide a full 5 years of support, remaining fully supported until 2019.

Next I’ll start stepping you through the Installation Process, and then Customising Ubuntu 12.04, beginning with the addition of extra Scopes and Lenses for Unity.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pango Review coming soon

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Review coming soon…

Over the past month I’ve been getting acquainted with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin, with Unity Desktop.

Whilst there are still some very minor stability issues behind the scenes, overall this would have to be one of the best Linux Distro Releases to date.

I’ll attempt to quantify that bold statement with the following articles.

Tas Police Rub Salt Into The Wounds of Aboriginal Tasmania

by Kelly Tall

Monday, April 18, 2011

Tasmania Police today rubbed salt in to the wounds of Aboriginal Tasmania when they arrested Jim Everett – Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder, Aaron Everett, Nathan Maynard and Sky Maynard after a Smoke Healing Ceremony that was held out at the Kutalayna – lower Jordan River Levee/Brighton Bypass site today.

Inspector Lee Renshaw of Tas Police confronting the protest group at Kutalayna as protesters linked arm in arm united to protect members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community from being arrested.

As a group of about a hundred people from both the Aboriginal and broader communities huddled together to safely escort out members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community who had been arrested over previous weeks in protests held on the site, after a ceremony held there this afternoon.  Protesters gathered united and linked arm in arm to prevent Tasmania Police from being able to reach members of the community who had been identified as having breached their bail just be being on the site.

Sara Maynard makes a plea for Police Discretion to be used by Inspector Lee Renshaw of Tas Police

Sara Maynard – Aboriginal Legal Field Officer made an impassioned plea to Inspector Lee Renshaw of Tasmania Police to use Police Discretion on this matter and not take them in to custody. Inspector Renshaw admitted that he did in fact have the ability to use Police Discretion on the matter, however further went on to state that “I can’t help it, I’m sorry, but they’ve backed me in to a corner”. Jim Everett spoke up after a few minutes and asked supporters to let allow him and the other community members through so as they could give themselves up peacefully to police, again, going to every length to ensure that this battle is being fought peacefully.

Aboriginal Elder - Jim Everett, and Nathan and Sky Maynard hand themselves over to Police

Speculatively I would suggest that Inspector Renshaw had likely been told from further up the food chain to make the arrests and not to use Police Discretion on the matter. It seems to me quite apparent after following this story for months and attending rallies and protests and Parliamentary sessions that the Tasmanian State Government has been keenly and actively pursuing this current course of action with gusto and vigilance and were determined not to let anyone or anything get in their way — not even 42,000 years of Indigenous Heritage & History, nor the proud and strong Aboriginal people who have stood and fought with peaceful resistance against the dogged determination of the Tasmanian State Government.

Jim Everett speaks briefly with a reporter from the ABC before being escorted in to the back of an awaiting paddy wagon.

The mood on the way out to the Kutalayna site this morning travelling with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre was one of emotional and physical exhaustion, and nervous anticipation of Tasmania Police blockades and arrests for breach of bail conditions.  Everyone who had already been arrested over the past weeks at Kutalayna, had it placed in their bail release conditions that they were not to go back out on to the Kutalayna site at all. To the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, that’s like making it a bail condition that they can’t “go home”.  It is not only unfair, but I believe socially unjust as well. You see, for the Tasmanian Aboriginal people this is probably the last time they’d get to see their land — this incredibly important site — in as close as possible to it’s original virgin state.

Kutalayna - lower Jordan River Levee at Brighton, Tasmania

Fences were being put in place today out on the site to close off more areas around the site as construction on the bypass continues in earnest. Pylon support pad foundations have already been dug out, smack in the middle of arguably one of the most important pieces of land archaeologically in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the most important to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community. The damage is already done.  The moment the excavators started digging on the morning of Friday the 15th of April — the damage was already done from that moment on from an archaeological viewpoint and from a Cultural Heritage perspective, and yet, Tasmania Police still rubbed salt in to the wounds of Aboriginal Tasmania this afternoon by re-arresting 4 members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community who had gone out to the site to essentially, “Say Goodbye to it” as Jim Everett stated as members of the Tasmania Police force encircled around him ushering him over to one of the row of Paddy Wagons they had waiting, doors open and ready since the time we arrived in the morning.

Police Paddy Wagons waiting lined up, doors open and ready

Inspector Lee Renshaw stated to Sara Maynard and the crowd of protesters that “Look they’ve already been identified, we knew they were here, we didn’t come in to the ceremony and arrest them, we’ve waited for them to come out here”.  Travelling out to Kutalayna with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre this morning I had spoken on the bus with Sky Maynard who had been arrested last week in the protests. Sky was aware that she could be arrested for going back out on to the site again, and was clearly a bit nervous about that possibility, but she remained strong and determined to play her part in this important ceremony — something I personally believe was quite literally her “birthright” to attend, on a site where her people have held similar ceremonies for 42 millennia.  You don’t get a much stronger birthright than that in my opinion.  More power to her, and to all the members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community and the members of the broader European and ethnic communities who support them!

Nathan Maynard and Sky Maynard performing in the Smoke Healing Ceremony, fair-welling the Kutalayna site as its been known to their ancestors for 42,000 years.

I am appalled at the way these people have been treated, in general, and in relation to the Brighton Bypass issue.  I think a lot of white people feel threatened by the Tasmanian Aboriginal people because of how strong they are.  It’s their strength and determination to stand up and fight for what’s right, that scares a lot of people. Or maybe it’s just good old fear of what they don’t know anything about nor understand, or fear of difference. I don’t know, and I could spend all night ranting out theories, but that won’t get anyone far and will probably send you to sleep.

The Tasmanian broader community needs to really start changing it’s attitudes towards the indigenous peoples of this land. These people are proud and strong with an ancestry that stretches back farther than the rest of our cultures have even existed! Have some respect! People carry on with comments about how “oh yes but they only had stone tipped arrows and lived in bark humpys”.  Well, even with Mack Hiking Boots, a windproof jacket, gloves, beanies, a heatbank and a solid brick house to live in, and I still struggle to survive Tasmania’s conditions, and I dare say I probably wouldn’t if I had to rough it down here long term….and yet these people survived the harsh conditions down here for 42 millennia and were still going strong until the British Invaders brought their flintlock guns and rifles and their diseases, colds and flus, and committed what under the United Nations definitions classifies as being the one of the earliest recorded Genocides.

Haven’t these people been through enough already? They’ve survived the guns and slaughter, the slavery, the rape and the murder, having the land that has been that of their ancestors for tens of thousands of years taken away from them by hostile force, and then survived generations of endemic racism, discrimination, marginalisation, and now we’re just going to build bridges straight through the guts of one of the most significant sites in the southern hemisphere? Has the Tasmanian State Government lost it’s collective mind? Certainly it has shown no humility, and barely so much as a hint of compassion towards the Aboriginal Community of Tasmania, and this is something that I think we all need to take issue with, and rectify it, because these people have already been through enough.

I must say, it can be a little bit intimidating listening to the anger towards white people in general by the Aboriginal people, however, I’m sure you would very quickly find, as did I, that this anger is well justified. The discrimination and vilification of these people still continues today. The lies and deceits perpetrated against them by the Government and the “powers that be” are both incomprehensible and reprehensible, and upon researching this issue I found myself sharing the anger that the Tasmanian Aboriginal people have been feeling.

However, whilst anger can be a great motivator, it’s also scary and intimidating and it puts people on guard and at arm’s length. This is an issue I’ve had to struggle with through my own battles against injustices and discrimination, and dealing with “the system”.  No matter how warranted and justified, if you are coming from a space of feeling angry when expressing your situation, people either just “switch off”, or go straight on to the defensive.

My son Jason having a "water spirit" painted on his face in Ochre by Taz

I listened today as members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community recognised these issues and spoke of them, and from everything that I have witnessed with attending the Rallies on Parliament House lawns, the Parliamentary Session, and the Protests on-site at Kutalayna, they have gone to every length to ensure that this battle has been fought with “peaceful resistance”, and certainly undertaken it with far more respect, I think, than what they’ve been in return shown by the Tasmanian State Government.

Today, Jim Everett – Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder, and other members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community and supporters from the broader community held a Healing Ceremony at Kutalayna, calling on the spirits to bring healing to the land, healing to the Aboriginal people, and healing for all, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. This was likely the last ceremony of it’s kind to be held at the Kutalayna – lower Jordan River Levee site before it has been forever destroyed. This was another of a great many very sad days in history, a history that’s been smeared in blood.

Kutalayna – Destruction Begins at the Jordan River Levee site.

Kutalayna – Brighton Bypass Site

15/04/11 12:35

Police numbered up to 40 at the Kutalayna Aboriginal heritage site

I’m out here at Kutalayna with members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community, and many non-Aboriginal supporters of the community, protesting against the state Government’s construction works which really started to fire-up this morning.

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At approximately 8am this morning construction workers started moving in with heavy earth moving equipment to start digging on the Kutalayna Aboriginal Heritage site at the Jordan River Levee at Brighton. 2 metre deep rectangular shaped holes, approximately 10 feet in length, by 4 feet wide, by approximately 6 feet deep have already started being dug out for the support pylons of the overpass bridge. These pylons are planted 6 feet deep in to the ground of the actual Kutalayna heritage site. The short minded disrespectful behaviour of the Tasmanian State Government is nothing short of disgusting.

This site is not only of significant importance to the Aboriginal community, but to the community at large also, as it has archaeological as well as cultural significance to the whole broader community, and humanity, being one of the oldest sites of it’s kind identified in the world. This site and others like it are worthy of protection. I can’t believe that the state government has allowed this to occur. This is such short sighted reactionary behaviour by the current and previous Government.

On Monday afternoon I sat in the gallery at Parliament House to see if the Greens could get a motion passed with the help of the Liberals, to use the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act to help save this site from being destroyed by the Tasmanian State Government in yet another example of complete and total lack of respect and regard for the Aboriginal Community’s rights to their cultural heritage, which has already been devastated by this state’s Government on a great many different levels and in a great many different ways.

We need supporters! We need people to be here to make up the numbers. You don’t have to get arrested. You can just come along and support us by just being here. If you are living here in Tasmania, and are able to lend your support, then please refer to this Google Map link – Kutalayna Aboriginal Heritage Site

On Monday’s sitting at Parliament House in Hobart, I listened to what all 3 sides had to say about this issue. The Greens speaker, mister Bob Brown, had the first turn, followed by MPs from the Labour Party, and then MPs from the Liberals. It became painfully apparent very quickly that there have been a multitude of ineptitudes and mistakes made during the almost 40 year long process and millions of dollars of Australian Tax Payers dollars that have gone in to the decision making processes by the Tasmanian State Government on deciding the issues regarding this site.

Lies have been told on both the Labour and the Liberal side, that is for certain. The finger pointing was going on left right and centre during Monday’s sitting of Parliament. Nick McKim, the current leader of the Tasmanian Greens Party was absent from this sitting of Parliament sadly. Even more sadly, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of either Nick McKim, Bob Brown, Lara Giddings, etc, out here at the site during this critical protest phase. It’s disappointing that even the party Members who are supposed to be in support of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community on this matter, are nowhere to be seen.

Please, if you are able to lend us your support, and your presence, then please do come down and help us make up the numbers, because this is now down to The People. It’s the people who are the only ones who can make enough noise now to try and stop this blind-sighted government’s arrogant and disrespectful behaviour and attempts to destroy this incredibly important site.

Utterly abhorrent abuse of position, power, and trust by “Job Assessment Officer”.

I am utterly appalled at the abhorrent abuses of position and power committed by employees whom we entrust to help support our young people in finding work.

I’ve just been made aware of a “diagnosis” that was made about a young person’s mental state by a Job Assessment Officer, who labelled this young person with various Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenic and Mentally Unstable diagnoses, without having any qualification nor right to do so. This “Job Assessment Officer” told this young person they were “schizophrenic”, “mentally unstable”, “manic-depressive”, and that they were “unsuitable for work” and then further went on to tell this young person “go and see a bloody psychiatrist and get some help”.

I know this young person very well, and I know what this person has survived and endured, and thank the gods that this young soul is a strong one because I would hate to see what “could have resulted” from arrogant discriminatory labelling.  We entrust these lowly qualified desk jockeys with helping our young people, and possibly ourselves, in finding work, and or proper training, counselling and other assistance that may be necessary in helping someone to enter/re-enter the workforce.  Further, these people are in a position of trust and very much a position of power over young people, and welfare recipients in general….being that Job Assessment Officers have the power to cancel Centrelink payments, make certain recommendations about clients — accurate or otherwise, etc…so from the client’s point of view, these people have enormous power over their lives.

It is precisely this kind of behaviour that directly contributes to our teen suicide rates. Here is some information about the kinds of factors that contribute to teen suicide, and suicide in general - http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13738&cn=9 http://www.youthbeyondblue.com/factsheets-and-info/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_suicide.

A quote off the mentalhelp.net website states “Emotional insults, such as rejection, public humiliation or shame, may be experienced as painful enough by some people to push them towards suicide. Perceived social rejection often leads to social isolation, which also increases suicidality. In addition, a combination of poor coping skills or other suicide vulnerability factors and an emotional insult can be particularly devastating. In the late 1980s, some research suggested a link between homosexuality, social rejection, and teen suicide, particularly in young males. Current research suggests that young homosexual or bisexual males are at greater risk than heterosexuals for suicide attempts, but findings are less clear regarding suicide completion.”

To really add insult to injury, I’ve just spoken with the person involved over the phone and been further informed that the Manager/Supervisor of the job agency involved, upon my young friend making a complaint about it to him, asked that my friend refrain from going to the police, etc, and that in exchange for their silence, that he assured my friend that the man responsible would have his “qualifications disqualified” and that my friend would get a “written apology”.

Unfortunately due to being already under enormous pressure from other life circumstances this young person is not in a position at this time to stand up and fight this, so has accepted the offer.  I don’t blame this young person for one second for choosing not to take it further and fight this, because they’re dealing with enough life stresses and pressures as is without trying to step in to the incredibly daunting world that comes with standing up for yourself…of dealing with the legal system, lawyers (ikk), and the Anti-discrimination Tribunal, and all the loops and hoops you’re required to jump through to get anything at all to happen.

I so wish that I could publicly name and shame the Job Assessment Officer and the Agency involved….however that choice is not mine to make this time. Anyone passing these kinds of judgements, especially upon a teenager who has already been through sheer hell, should be physically reefed out of their comfortable chair and dumped out on the street, never allowed to work in a position of authority over other people again!

It is not good enough that this kind of behaviour is occurring in the first place. People need to take a stand, and when treated in this kind of way. If you get as far as it being acknowledged by Employers and or managers/supervisors….then don’t accept second best. If it is a serious enough breach like the one my young friend endured today, then don’t let them sweep it under the rug. Take a stand! We need to stamp out this kind of discriminatory behaviour!

There are agencies out there that will offer a certain amount of free help, advice, and or support in helping people to tackle these kinds of issues. For women there are organisations here in Hobart like S.H.E. (Support, Help, Empowerment – a Women’s Support Organisation) – http://www.she.org.au/, and The Women’s Legal Advisory Service – http://www.womenslegaltas.org.au/index.html, The Hobart Community Legal Service - http://www.hobartlegal.org.au/. There are many other organisations out there also offering support, and if anyone is seeking information on those then I am more than happy to assist in tracking down services in your area. If you need help, please email me at disentangler@gmail.com .



Of Androids and Other Gadgets

 

Huawei IDEOS U8150 Android Powered Smartphone

 

 

I’ve been very quickly learning over the past week just how truly amazing the new sub $200.00 Google Android based “Smart Phones” are. In particular the new Huawei IDEOS U8150 Android 2.2 Smartphone – which comes network unlocked from Dick Smith Electronics, for the dazzling sum of $179.00 — is an absolute bargain. In the space of a few hours I had this device fully networked with my office computer and my laptop. I have a lifelong interest in photography and was recently given a compact Digital SLR camera by an old friend which I plan to use together with my Android and my netbook to combine my life-long passion for writing with my passion for photography.

The flexibility provided by this powerful, cheap, flexible little device is unbelievable. It’s not really fair to call it a phone, nor even a smartphone. It is a miniature, and yet unmistakably powerful computer that also acts as a Personal Information Manager + Phone.

If you’re a dedicated gadget geek or a busy mum on the go or working on the move then this “Huawei IDEOS Android Smartphone” is an absolute must.