Anti-War.com reports:
“In a major defeat for President George W. Bush with potentially far-reaching implications for his conduct of the “war on terror,” the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday ruled that military tribunals established by the Pentagon to try suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, violated the U.S. Constitution.”
NewsForge.com is running an article entitled “FOSS in Islamic Countries”:
“The promise of free and open source software (FOSS) in Islamic countries rests on issues such as helping build capacity. FOSS also provides greater flexibility, especially in terms of customization for local needs. In addition, FOSS can reduce the cost of deploying information and communications technologies (ICT) by permitting unlimited and free distribution of software, thus making it more affordable than comparable proprietary products. FOSS’s security benefits take on added importance in the wake of recent reports that computers with Windows XP have been sending information, daily and without the knowledge of their owners, to Microsoft. Finally, FOSS will free Islamic countries from boycotts ad sanctions imposed by other countries and owners of proprietary software.”
Ibn al-Muallim, Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Nu`man, al-Mufid (may Allah make his grave fragrant) met with his students on Saturday, 29th of the month of Ramadan and dictated that Musa b. Ja’far reported from his father through his forefathers, peace be upon them all, that:
The Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, said:
“Whoever has four virtues, Allah shall write his name among the people of Paradise: One who saves oneself by testifying that there is no god but Allah and that I, Muhammad am His Messenger; and one who says: Praise be to Allah, when blessed with any bounty from Him; and one who says: I seek forgiveness from Allah, for the sin committed; and one, when afflicted by any calamity, says: To Him we belong, and unto Him shall we return.”
(Al-Amaali by Shaykh al-Mufid, Ninth Assembly.)
My useless comments: There is a certain simplicity in these four virtues. They are not difficult to follow outwardly. There is, of course, a certain inner certainty (yaqin) and sincerity (ikhlas) that must be present for them to be true to the heart (qalb), but the words are not difficult to say. They are easy on the lips and bring joy to the one who says them.
In a time when many Muslims are, unfortunately, consumed with mundane issues and minor disputes, this advice touches at the core of our existence and our journey, which is complete submission (al-Islam) to and love of Allah, glorified and exalted.
“In love’s circle there’s another kind of serenity;
in love’s wine, another kind of hangover.
What you learned in school is one thing —
love is something entirely different.”
– Mawlana Rumi
I neglected to ever post XGL screenshots (shame on me). So, here they are, taken with Ksnapshot. There are 18 shots available. Next time, I’ll try not to ignore my screenshot obligations for so long.
It is a girl, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Here is a video of the ultrasound.
The only catch: It is in Theora video format. It is a free and open video codec, and I figured that this was the perfect time to promote it. If you have a free operating system (such as GNU/Linux), you already have built-in support for it. If you have a proprietary OS (such as Windows or Mac OS X), you can use VLC media player to watch it. You may also use just about any player, with the right codecs installed.
It has been a very rainy day. I decided to take some video footage of the gutter overflowing (yeah I have some time on my hands — one month vacation). I find serenity in the rain. I hope you will too. Enjoy.
It’s in MPEG2 format. That should play in most (if not all) video players.
Xara, a company known for making a commercial-grade vector graphics program for Windows, has now released a version of their software, Xara Xtreme, for Linux and Mac OS X. You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, so what? Another commercial company trying to cash-in on Linux?” Perhaps, but this company is doing it the right way. They’ve released their source code under the GPL It’s free as in freedom, and (at least for now), they’ve released binaries free of charge on their web site.
I strongly recommend trying it. It has a long way to go to be a competitively commercial-grade vector editing program, on the Adobe Illustrator level, but it certainly has the potential. Some of the nice features that I noticed immediately are the ease in which you can make and manipulate drop shadows, text, and gradients.
I’ve always preferred object-oriented graphics editing but never found a good Linux program that could do it. Inkscape is great, but the user interface could use a little work. Nevertheless, it has a multitude of features not yet available in Xara Xtreme. It would appear, from the Xara FAQ, that the developers from both projects have agreed to work cooperatively. Even if they do not, the source code from Xara could definitely benefit the Inkscape project, which does not have the corporate funding of Xara.
The future for GNU/Linux graphics looks very bright. Let’s hope the success of Xara will bring other companies to the free software arena.
No, not the operating system. Our new house now has real glass windows.
This could have all kinds of implications. I can just see Bush concluding that Apple might have links with al-Qa’eda.
Apparently, some poor fellow tried to self-repair his dead iPod, and it exploded in his face. The lesson: don’t try this at home or on a crowded bus.
For years I wallowed in self-induced networking hell. I have been the victim of a self-mutating Toshiba router for quite some time now. I could have, long ago, ended my suffering, but somehow, I always found some other use for my money. Fool! Foolish ingrate that I am! In my library, my router (yes, I put in my own wireless router) was a persnickety D-Link, that only allowed connections to it when you “qualified”, passed a written and oral exam, and sacrificed your firstborn child over stone altars.
Alas, I eschew idolatry. So, I finally cast down the Toshiba beast from its demonic throne (did I mention you had to use Internet Explorer to configure it? Other browsers choked on it). I have seen the pits of router hell, firsthand. I bathed in the boiling depths of its lost packets and poorly configured IP forwards. Now, I have seen the light, and I can proclaim its truth and righteousness.
Behold, the Linksys WRT54GL (the “L” after it is important)! It was once believed to be extinct (kind of like the coelacanth), though reports of its demise were premature. The “L”, my fellow believers, stands for Linux (the Kernel!). This is the best router I’ve ever used. Why, you ask? Because I installed my choice of firmware onto it. It is a hacked-up version of the standard firmware.
Can you pimp your router? I can now do things like SSH into my router and run apps from it. I can set static IPs according to the MAC hardware addresses of every computer in the house. I can…(breath…breath)…I can take over the world! (Not that I would of course. Islam means peace. We Muslims are law-abiding citizens…ahem).
Anyway, I do recommend this router. It is the best, hands down, for home or small office use. Hey, it runs Linux. You cannot go wrong with that.
Anyway, the coelacanth. Scientists thought it was extinct, until they caught one off the coast of Madagascar.
