Rickford Grant's "Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks" was just the book I needed. Since October, I've been a full-time Ubuntu user, having switched over from OS X. I had a couple bumps and false starts (to be discussed at a later time), but overall, I'm head-over-heels in love with my Stinkpad (network name: "Contrarian-Bastard") and Ubuntu.

But GNU/Linux is a many-headed beast. Remember that free software gets written when a programmer has an itch to scratch. Sometimes a group of geeks will get fed up with a clunky way of installing software, or editing a text file, or configuring your WiFi, and just hack up an entirely new way of doing it. Much of the time, the new way is better, or at least not worse, and that's great.

But this also means that there are sixty-leven ways of doing anything, from renaming your hard drive to setting your network up. And when you find a cool tool or the right fix online, half the time it seems to rely on you knowing how to do something that you haven't encountered yet.

Moreover, the essential Unix philosophy is do nothing until your owner tells you to -- plugging in new hardware doesn't necessarily trigger a "helpful" dialog box offering to predict what you intend to do with your widget and make it so. This has its good points, but if you don't know how to get a drive mounted already, it can be a little bewildering, not to mention frustrating. Ubuntu does a pretty good job with some hardware, but it's not consistent with my expectations after a lifetime of MacOS computing.

Enter Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks. It reads like one of David Pogue's excellent Missing Manual books -- a fast, crystal-clear topical tour of the amazing collective accomplishment embodied in Ubuntu. I learned something new in every chapter, and ended up with a computer that did more of what I wanted it to do, faster.

This book should come with every Ubuntu Live CD -- it's just the documentation I needed to take some of the mystery out of my machine. Link

Update: Dave sez, "No Starch Press publishes a lot of geek books that have been on my "to read soon" list, including Rickford Grant's 'Ubuntu for Non-Geeks.' Notably, quite a few of their titles are available in DRM-free PDF editions, in addition to the traditional dead-tree ones Amazon sells. These can be printed, if desired, and even shared with a friend. They have a great attitude about it, saying 'electronic books should have the same reader rights as printed books.' You can save trees, fuel, time, and middlemen."

Update 2: Patrick sez, "it should also be mentioned that, after you purchase the PDF, you won't necessarily be allowed to download it for as much as two days. This information is not plainly stated on any of the screens you navigate through when ordering the PDF; rather, it's behind a side link reading 'How do I get my PDF?'. They say 'Please note that because we don't have an automated delivery system, it may take 1-2 business days' to receive the custom URL for the PDF you ordered. In other words, they have an 'automated system' for immediately charging your credit card or PayPal account, but they can't be bothered to have a system for immediately delivering the digital data for which you've been charged."

Update 3: Bill Pollock, No Starch's founder, sez, "I'm a bit troubled by Patrick's comment which seems to suggest that we can't be bothered to deliver PDFs quickly, but that we're happy to take people's money without delay. You know, we just aren't that kind of company. The reason for the delay is that we process everything manually -- both the PDF delivery and credit card sales. I know, that sounds odd, but our site is basically the same static HTML site that we've had for about 10 years. We're about to launch a reworked site (based on Wordpress) which should allow us to process payments and deliver PDFs instantly, and that's a good thing.

"I've always made it a point to not charge credit cards until books actually ship because that's what I expect as a customer. I also think that it's important to give readers the same rights in their PDFs that they have in printed books because that's what I expect (hence no DRM). We do our best to give our readers what they want and to treat them as we would like to be treated."

Glassy Eyes is a terrific blog about buying super cheap prescription eyeglasses online. I followed Ira's advice and ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses for $13. My favorite part is Ira's response to an email from an optician:

OPTICIAN: You may be able to find a silhouette frame a little cheaper online but you are also forfeiting correct measurements and the service provided (future repairs and adjustments, complimentary ultrasonic cleanings, etc).

IRA: I wonder how many people you sell on ultrasonic cleanings. In theory it sounds like a good idea, but I think $320 is a bit much for an extended service plan.

OPTICIAN: Stores also have more overhead (salaries for qualified and experienced opticians, ulitity bills, etc) so you are paying for more than just the frame…you are paying for the overall service.

IRA: I can appreciate that. That's the reason I've gone to the same opthalmologist for the past 25 years. I want a qualified person checking my eyes -- after that it's numbers on a card and money-grubbing.

OPTICIAN:Also, let’s not forget that by patronizing local stores, you are helping the local economy. I would gladly pay just a little extra to support my community.

IRA: Don't start with the shop locally argument. I shop locally as often as I can. I'm a huge fan of the disappearing mom and pop shops of all kinds and will patronize them over a big-box store whenever possible. I support my community with volunteering AND my dollars. I'm not going to be screwed for it however.

Link (Thanks, Phil!)

Lauren Gard says:

I'm a reporter at the East Bay Express, based in Oakland (a sister paper to the LA Weekly, down in your neck of the woods). I've just published a cover story about an amazing photographer who has spent 25 years photographing nude girls and women, and collecting accompanying essays from them, in what he calls Bodies and Souls: The Century Project. (www.thecenturyproject.com [Link not safe for work])

I think boingboing readers would enjoy seeing one of Frank's pics, like the one of 94-year-old Mary or 41-year-old Keri. For people who've never viewed a woman Mary's age naked, or a physically handicapped woman like Keri naked, these photos are undoubtedly quite wonderful, eye-opening things!

The Express ran these photos and others in the article, and even in the liberal East Bay we've already gotten letters like this:

SUBJECT: Disgust
LETTER [verbatim]: I was just looking at your recent issue of the East Bay Express volume 29 number 9, and was disgusted and very upset with the nude images inside and on the cover, i understand your intention to share "art" but nude art is not acceptable within a paper it is pornography and the students of Chabot [local community college] shouldnt be exposed to this UN-Necessary "art"

Excerpt from Lauren Gard's article

His photos, although profoundly moving to some viewers, come as a shock to many, particularly when viewed out of context. Nude depictions of children and seniors are by nature taboo in a culture rooted in Puritanism. And most, although not all, of his subjects bear physical or mental scars, or struggle with their body image. Some are obese, anorexic, or bulimic. Some have been raped or abused. Some are afflicted with disease, while others have inflicted pain upon themselves. Desiree, nineteen, poses against a white cinderblock wall, a massive T-shaped scar dominating her chest. A year earlier, her uncle slashed her with a knife after she refused to let him have sex with her any longer. Kerry, 41, sits in profile, laughing, her unattached prosthetic legs resting beside her on the couch. Durga, 66, was given a hysterectomy in a Harlem hospital at age 31 without her consent. "Once, when the exhibit was at a college, several students approached me and said, 'We don't see anyone like us represented here. You need to have cutters,'" Cordelle recalls. He photographed one of the women the very next day.

Link

The wonderful TV program, Matinee at the Bijou, is returning to PBS, this time in HD format. With host Debbie Reynolds, each episode features a vintage cartoon, a short, a serial and a feature. (Here's a YouTube introduction to the program.) Link

A couple of nights ago I saw a large possum waddling through our back yard. I think it's the same possum I've seen several times over the last couple of years.

I told me three-year-old daughter about it the next morning and she wanted to know what a possum looked like, so I did a Google image search and found this photo.

I noticed that there was an audio story about a possum on the page, so I listened to it and really enjoyed it. It's a first person account of adopting a possum from a possum rescue organization.

Link

A report from the French firm Xiti Monitor shows the growth of Firefox in Europe, including this pretty map showing over a third of Germans, Poles and Slovenians are Firefox users, along with healthy dollops of people in the rest of Europe. I haven't touched Explorer in years, and it feels great. You all seem to agree -- 50.4% of Boing Boing readers use Firefox, compared to only 26.1% on Exploder. Link

Vienna's annual Roboextoica Festival of Cocktail Robotics is well underway. This annual, hilarious, wonderful un-conference features homebuilt cocktail robots (drinkers, mixers, cigarette lighters, conversation makers, und so weiter) from all over the world, as well as films, drinks, talks, and much more. I've been a guest at a few of these and they are plain stupendous. Link, Flickr "roboexotica" tag stream

This binary scarf encodes 122 bytes of data in its pattern of zeros and ones. Link (Thanks, Aija!)

A new report from the Open Society Institute makes a number of recommendations for the future of European copyright law, aimed at making sure that user's rights are harmonized across the continent.

Right now, every nation in the Union has to set out the same minimum rights for copyright holders, but the rights they give to the public can vary from country to country. So a legal parody in one country might be a criminal infringement across the border.

Most interesting is the report's work on DRM. Under Europe's copyright directive, every EU nation has to pass laws that stop people from breaking DRM, but it also requires the states to hold DRM vendors to account when their crippleware infringes on legitimate consumer rights.

The report focuses on "digital copyright" issues and suggests principles aimed at establishing best practices with regard to user autonomy and peer collaboration, diversity, and political and cultural participation. The study includes specific recommendations in controversial areas such as DRM anti-circumvention frameworks, private copying exceptions, teaching exceptions, exceptions for disabled people, exceptions for archives and libraries, as well as recommendations on issues such as reporting on current events, the quotation right, and provisions on caricature and parody, among others.

PDF Link (Thanks, Manon!)