Archive for the ‘Random’ Category

Posted on August 28, 2010 - by jono

On Zareason

These views are my own, and not necessarily those of Canonical.

Some time back the always awesome Earl and Cathy from Zareason loaned me one of their Strata laptops to play with. I met them at an event some time before, and while I had heard of Zareason, I really knew nothing about them. Since then I have learned about their work and played with the Strata. I just wanted to share some thoughts.

Zareason are a company that I think really gets Open Source. They are a small organization and incredibly supportive of Open Source in the local area and wider USA. They pre-install Ubuntu on their machines, focus on open hardware, and one really nice touch is that they include a small screwdriver with each machine because they believe that everyone has the right to be able to open up their machines and peek inside. In this age of screwless, inaccessible boxes and restrictive end-user license agreements, this is a refreshing change. Like most, I would never actually use said little screwdriver…but it is a strong statement of Zareason and their culture. Kudos!

So, as for the machine, it is a zippy little monster and works great. The pre-installed Ubuntu worked great out of the box, with pretty much everything running as expected. One thing that really struck me, is regarding build quality. I consider build quality an essential ingredient in a laptop. Laptops move around a lot, they get thrown into bags, and they get picked up, dragged around and balanced in precarious ways. The Zareason Strata I tried felt incredibly durable…as in…Thinkpad durable. I absolutely adore Thinkpads for this very reason, so again, Kudos Zareason.

Finally, a big decider for me in a laptop is the keyboard. There are many great laptops with horrible plasticky keyboards. The Zareason Strata has a really comfortable, useful, and durable keyboard. It feels strong but not difficult to use. Again, kudos Zareason.

So, Zareason produce great, solid, hardware pre-installed with Ubuntu, they are actively supportive of the Open Source community, and they affirm openness in both the software and hardware. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Posted on August 23, 2010 - by jono

Help Colin Get His Kids Back

I don’t tend to blog about appeals, but I came across this terribly sad story and I really want to encourage you all too also pledge and support him. Here is what happened, written by a friend of Colin:

Colin & I have been close friends for 13 years when we started our MBA program together. We then both lived in London and our children played together. Colin moved back to his home town of Boston before I returned to the US and unfortunately he got divorced from his wife, an Egyptian national, in 2008. He was granted full legal custody by the US courts of his two young boys (US citizens). His wife created forged passports in a fake name and kidnapped his two children by illegally flying back to Cairo on Egypt Air. He hasn’t seen them in more than a year and she is in hiding.

Mirvat el Nady now has an arrest warrant in the US and is wanted by Interpol (see here). Colin is being supported by his Senator John Kerry and has received help from Vice President Biden and Attorney General, Eric Holder. The problem is that Egypt doesn’t support the Hague Convention and doesn’t have an extradition policy with the United States so they don’t recognize any of the international legal rulings in Colin’s favor. Colin has now won visitation rights in an Egyptian court, but Mirvat didn’t show up at the legally required meeting day / time in Egypt.

You can see an interview with Colin here about his ordeal.

I am not a father yet, but it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to understand how painful and heartbreaking it must be to have your kids taken away from you and to have no idea where they are…and no way of getting in touch with them.

I wanted to encourage you all to show your support for Colin, and contribute to his legal defense fund. You can also show your support by joining this Facebook page; I am sure kind words of support on that page will be welcomed.

We pledged today, and with him aiming to raise $25,000 for the legal defence fund, if we all contribute a little this could really help this family. Thanks, folks.

Posted on February 12, 2010 - by jono

Proud To Be a Son

Today my dad was informed that he will be awarded a masters degree at Cambridge University where he has been studying recently. While I am overflowing with pride over his achievement, what really makes me smile is the incredible journey that led him there.

Born and raised in the Dales in North Yorkshire, he came from a frugal rural upbringing in a large working-class family. They didn’t have much, but he always made the most out of what he did have, never complaining, always dreaming, leading him on step by step through a range of adventures, each underlined with his phenomenal sense of values, and an unwavering commitment to family and hard work.

His life so far has been a rich tapestry of diversity, with just a few of his experiences including being a welder, running multiple car dealerships, managing a multimedia software project, being a hypnotherapist, a magistrate, a nightclub owner, a mayor, a pub landlord, and currently running an antiques business in conjunction with my mum who has embarked on her own incredible journey to become one of the top master restorers in England.

While his daily routine has differed over the years, his values have not. He is the purest definition of good person that I have ever met. He has spent his life committed to doing the right thing, often challenged by adversity. He has always defended those without a voice, often putting his own personal circumstances and comfort levels into a state of flux. He fought for voting rights for women in working mens clubs in the UK, campaigned for the safety of residents near rail crossings in the town I was born in, stood up against inferior safety provisions in his workplace to protect his workmates, he took his old friend Ray to the 50th anniversary D-Day memorial in Normandy and went to great lengths to obtain replica medals as Ray had lost his many years previous. These are just a few examples from a patchwork of experiences stitched together with kindness.

He has not only been the perfect father, but a true inspiration for a son. He taught me a strong set of values, each illustrated by his experiences; experiences shared but never lectured, and from my earliest childhood memory I can remember him and my mum both encouraging and defending my right to an opinion, under the premise it was shared fairly and with empathy for other people’s views.

So, while I sit here beaming from cheek to cheek with pride over my dad who started with nothing and made something while never compromising who he is and where he came from, it makes me realize just how incredibly fortunate I am to have been blessed by such an incredible mentor. I love you dad, and I have never been so proud of you as I am today.

Posted on February 6, 2010 - by jono

I Support Same Sex Marriage

I love being married, it has opened up an incredible sense of commitment and security in my life and my wife’s life. Love is love, and I would never want to prevent anyone from enjoying what I am afforded the privilage of enjoying. This includes gay people. As such, I have joined this Facebook group to get 1,000,000 who support same sex marriage. I usually hate these kinds of groups, but I think it could be interesting to visualize the support behind this issue. Worthy, methinks.

Posted on December 8, 2009 - by jono

Touched

Yesterday a package arrived on my doorstep. Not just a package, but a big one, and I had not ordered anything that big to be delivered. Lo and behold, said package had my name on it and the sticker said it was from Pete Graner, who is my colleague at Canonical leading the kernel team. As many of you will know, he is one half of the Open Source Posh and Becks that is him and his awesome wife, Amber Graner.

So, I opened the box and to my utter astonishment I found an array of items all packed inside a patriotic hamper basket:

The box contains a quilt that Amber made with three books chronicling parts of the history of the United States. Laid on the top of the box was an awesome envelope with stars and stripes (even the envelope kept in with the theme) with my name written on it. Inside was a beautifully written letter saying some rather nice things about how I should apply for US Citizenship when I can, and how the things inside the box should help with this.

I was incredibly touched by this gesture from Amber and Pete. It is quite possibly the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me, and I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to both of them. I first met Pete at a managers sprint in London and from the minute we got to know each other, I knew I had just made a lifelong friend. Little did I realize that when I met his wife, that I would get another. Thanks folks, you are both incredible.

Posted on November 9, 2009 - by jono

One Year Anniversary

One year ago today, I married the love of my life, Erica. From the minute we went on our first date, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. We instantly developed a close connection; a bond that spans beliefs, interests, ambitions and tastes. Since that day we have not only carved out a life with each other, but grown a partnership that is strong and connected, underlined with a lust for life, experienced and shared together.

When it comes to relationships, I have always been inspired by my parents. They have been together for thirty years and they still hold hands, tell each other every day that they love each other, and put each other at the center of their lives. Erica and I found that connection in each other, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her. Bacon is happy.

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by jono

Even When Things Go Wrong, Life Is Awesome

A few days ago I started getting sick. This sucks for two reasons. Firstly, I hate being sick. Secondly I hit the big 3-0 tomorrow and I don’t want to be ill on my birthday. I have been assured my many a wise onlooker that “being sick on your birthday is the ‘worst thing ever’“. Don’t want any of that, particularly as we have some friends coming over for a shindig.

To make matters worse, like many others who are also testing the current development branch of Ubuntu, life got very very wobbly a few days ago and many of us are strugging to boot, gain access to the network and get X up and running. This all decided to kick off the very day I started feeling wobbly myself.

I was not a happy bunny. Feeling like crap, broken computer and in the interests of resting and getting better, I had American television to contend with. Woe was mostly firmly pointed in my direction.

It was then I realized just how truly awesome life is, even within my (frankly not very bad) circumstances. On the illness front I had a comfortable bed to rest in and a loving wife who brought me chicken soup and tea laced with honey. On the television side I could bypass the rot and misfortune that is American telly and plonk a few DVDs on, in the form of the Mallrats 10th Anniversary edition, Zodiac and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

And then Ubuntu. I grabbed my Jaunty CD, booted into the Live CD and used my trusty 2GB Mandrake USB stick that I got at PyCon in Brum and installed Jaunty to it. I then set up links, some bookmarks, installed a few apps and I was back up and running while Scott, Lamont, Colin, Steve and others have worked to get the problem fixed in Karmic. Yesterday I sat back for a moment and just marvelled at how incredible free software is and how devoted the folks who make it are. The people who were trying to resolve this were up late into their nights working hard. We are blessed to have these folks in our lives.

So the moral of this story: at times life sucks, but it is in those moments it gives us a chance to step back and see all the wonderful things around us.

Posted on September 2, 2009 - by jono

Kindle DX Impressions

The Kindle. I have been wanting to buy one of these babies for a while, and when I kept reading about people buying my book on them, read Mike’s generally positive blatherings, and wanted something to read for my honeymoon last week, I gave in and bought one. There are two Kindles and as I wanted to spend more time reading newspapers while firmly plonked in my local coffee shop with a hot cup of java, I erred on the side of bigger is better and got the Kindle DX. In addition to the Kindle I bought the leather case to keep my little companion safe and sound.

‘lo and behold, the little fella arrived and I have been playing with it for a few weeks. A few notes:

• Content – part of the reason I plumped for a Kindle and not a Sony Ebook reader is the sheer quantity of content available on Amazon. I know, I know, DRM sucks, and I don’t deny that, but the vast majority of the content on my Kindle today is actually from O’Reilly who provide DRM-free content. The Kindle DX supports PDFs really well, but I put my O’Reilly books on there using the .mobi format which works better and is searchable, zoomable etc. The in-built free access to the Kindle Store is awesome and I love the fact that I can download samples really easily. In fact, while waiting for our flight to Belize, Erica and I sat there and downloaded a stack of samples to see which books we wanted to read. Aside from reading normal books, I was primarily interested in a Kindle to access newspapers. Since I moved to the US I have been suffering at not having enough access to International news in a manner that is convenient, and in England I was treated to a healthy chunk of International news on the beeb every day. On the Kindle you can try newspapers for free for two weeks, so I subscribed to the New York Times and loved reading it with my coffee each day. I now feel better about knowing a modicum of what is going on outside our apartment.
• Features – the DX feels sturdy and well made and is actually smaller than I expected. The screen looks stunning and really does look like printed ink and the page turn buttons are sturdy enough to mean that you don’t accidentally knock them. I love the ability to highlight content and save it, take notes and make bookmarks. Searching works really well and downloading content is a breeze. While I had heard about the Kindle reading content to you feature, I suspected it would be bollocks but alas, it is actually rather good. In fact, I drove the hour and a bit to Sebastopol at the weekend to FooCamp and the little blighter read the NYT to me and it was great. The DX also includes a noddy-ish MP3 player which works pretty well. Plugging the Kindle into my Ubuntu machine is simple for getting content on and off the device: it is jut a micro-USB mass storage device (it also charges from USB too). This made it really simple to get my O’Reilly books on there. The web browser on the Kindle is OK for plain text sites such as Wikipedia and I did try Gmail in it and it worked, but it was slow as hell.
• So… – …have I actually used it or has it been a novelty, plonked back in the box after a few days of oohing and ahhhing? Well, I have actually been using it quite a bit. I love the fact that the Kindle puts content in my hands and in a form that I enjoy accessing. Sure, I can always read a normal book, and sure, I could go and buy a newspaper, but the reality is that carrying around books is a bit of a pain (right now I can carry around all my books in the Kindle) and I am always too busy to go and buy a paper. So far the Kindle has helped me read more, learn more and I have really enjoyed re-connecting with reading again.

So all in all, a pretty rocking device and I am tickled pink to have one on our coffee table.

Posted on February 19, 2009 - by jono

Stick To ‘Em

This weekend I am heading over to Los Angeles for SCALE. In addition to speaking, attending the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam and generally catching up with people, I plan on hunting out some stickers to cover this bad boy with:

Some of you will be familiar with how utterly plastered my previous laptop was. Now that the poor blighter has been decommissioned, I need to claw back some laptop credibility and get this fella up to par. If any of you are going to SCALE and have some cool stickers you want to lob in my general direction, that would be wonderful!

Posted on February 7, 2009 - by jono

Teesdale Conservation Volunteers

I wanted to post something a little different from the norm:

(can’t see the vid? go here)

My brother is the guy behind Teesdale Conservation Volunteers and they perform a tonne of different rural activities such as charcoal burning, woodland development, training and even organise a woodland festival. I am hugely proud of him and his family: they are good eggs.

In this vid he teaches how to do charcoal burning. Also, a minute in you can also see my other brother, Simon.

Good work, Bacon bros!