Spontaneous things

Things that catch you off guard can be quite frightful. Nevertheless, half of the time, such actions are rather fun to do or to watch. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t really make sense to list a bunch of things that are spontaneous. Cause, you know, by setting the time, preparing everything and writing scripts for everybody you kind of rip the spontan-part apart.
So I’m going to explain the general situation.
The important things to know are the following. Try to stay aware of your current situation and be a part of the conversation, game or happening. If you don’t, you’ll only end up telling jokes at funerals, dancing naked at parties or destroying someones property. All those things might be funny, but they’ve all happened much too often before and are most of the time remembered with some kind of bitter taste or criminal record. Secondly, notice abnormalities and think ahead. That’s not an easy task, but by practising a lot you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll need this not only to make an equivocal comment, but also to provide the excuse for this ‘accidental’ slip afterwards.

Never push or try to insist on some statement. If your audience fails to notice, you should probably either. Don’t explain jokes or simple actions. There is no need for that and besides, you’ll only destroy the eous-part too. What you should definitely do is to encourage others to improvise as well. Having fun together is just everything hedonism is about. Most promising are: video camera, one day free time, unforced meetings, good friends, relaxation zones like parks and a lot of space.

For ideas see various online video/photo/social platforms.
All you old-fashioned people: read books, or get a life, and then read books!

What do you need for a change?

WinXP ~> Ubuntu 8.04

• write down the system configuration
  • system properties (computername, domain)
    you can use the windows tool: msinfo32 (enter in command line)
  • hardware manager (attention with card readers and bluetooth)
    manufacturer/type/version/size/speed of interfaces (IDE/SCSI, COM, USB, Infrared,..), CPU specification, drives (harddisc, CD/DVD), input devices, display, network/graphic/sound cards
  • service manager (smartcard, special keys, bluetooth)
  • make a list of installed software (where you’ll need alternatives)
• write down all account information
  • WinXP user accounts (if reusable)
  • make a list of ICQ/MSN/Outlook/Messaging.. contacts
  • save account data for e-mail accounts (local e-mail clients)
  • write down network/Internet access information (dns, ip, subnet)
  • save Internet account information (from your browser)
• save reusable information
  • format usb memory stick with an appropriate file-system (NTFS might not work for Ubuntu, you might want to use FAT32)
  • better is to use a CD or DVD -ROM to guarantee write protection
  • save (if used) personalised infos (programs, games,..)
  • make screenshot of workspace (for familiarization later on)
• convert file-types
  • Word/Excel files can be opend with OpenOffice
  • Photoshop files can be read with GIMP
  • there will be problems with the formats: mp3,.. in Gobuntu
• make a backup
  • save the user directories (or the whole system, if you can sacrifice the space)
  • all relevant data you may need again (projects, presentations,..)
• test live system
  • check Ubuntu requirements
  • see Ubuntu hardware support wiki
  • decide between Ubuntu (GNOME desktop ~ default), Kubuntu (KDE desktop), Xubuntu (Xfce desktop small/fast), Gobuntu (using only free software)
  • download Ubuntu Live CD
  • start system with live cd (you can do that also at first to see if it works at all)
• install your chosen Ubuntu version
  • more about installation (on Intel x86 machines) and configuration..

Anything I forgot to mention?

Entscheidungsfreudiges Abwarten

Dieser Eintrag ist eigentlich 8 Tage alt. Aber eben doch nicht. Sind Entscheidungen also wirklich so schwer zu treffen? Treffen wir nicht tausende Entscheidungen pro Tag? Was macht eine gute Entscheidung aus? Ist es wichtig, dass alle möglichen Kriterien miteinbezogen werden?
Das Problem an so einer Auswahlmöglichkeitsfestlegung ist wohl unser eigenes Unwissen. Und natürlich unsere Angst davor. Jemand der sich seiner selbst nicht bewusst ist, neigt auch zu schnellen Entscheidungen, hat er doch nichts zu befürchten, da er doch nichts weiß. Gut, also grundsätzlich würde ich sagen, ist es schon gut einiges zu wissen. Beim Fallschirmsprung allerdings nicht 10 Minuten überlegen zu müssen um den Fallschirm auszulösen ist trotzdem ein erheblicher Vorteil. Das mag jetzt banal klingen – aber viele Antworten aus denen wir auswählen müssen sind dies auch. Wir wissen es bloß nicht.
Moment – wissen wir jetzt zuviel und können uns dadurch nicht entscheiden, oder doch zu wenig? Man könnte eventuell sagen: das Wissen, dass wir zu wenig wissen ist schon Wissen genug um unsere Auswahlgeschwindigkeit in die Länge zu ziehen. Doch was können wir jetzt dagegen tun? Wie können wir Spontanität trainieren?

Wie wäre es zB damit kurze Texte über selbst er- oder gefundene Themen zu verfassen. Diese sollen sich verständlich anhören und in irgendeiner Weise doch aus der Nase gezogen sein. Und, nein, meine Einträge beruhen auf jahrelangen wissenschaftlichen Studien mit vielen Formeln und Ergebnissen. Oder doch nicht?
Heutige Aufgabe: überrasche dich selbst!

Surprise:
..with dance at YouTube ~ and Mr. Vader is worth the wait
..with pictures from icanhascheezburger.com ~ bite me!
..or with interesting text ~ see “Der Ausdämpfer” by Mr. Haipl

Natural selection

“Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books.” – Francis Bacon (unsourced)

It’s 1858. It’s a man called Charles Darwin. He did not even attend, cause of the death of his son by scarlet fever. But it was a presentation with this title: On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, that was meant to shape our perception of this thing called evolution. (read online: The Origin of Species)

There was the theory of evolution and there were the facts and observations to see this theory scientifically plausible and thus officially recognised over time. What I find a kind of interesting is, that there shouldn’t be a question about evolution as there is none about gravity. That means, a human with a body that has a higher density and weight as water will sink. And regardless of all the proofs, some try to defend their theories where worlds are created within days, people walk over water and fish are multiplied by kind words. No going over water – won’t work! It’s simply not going to happen!
And so, they think that they should cement evolution by creating examples, parables and so on. But what they don’t understand is that people who believe in ghosts, afterlifes, hellfires and living in heaven after giving money to a ‘pope’ in a golden robe, won’t really act rational to fundamental research either.

Anyway, it’s the 18-month Darwin-year starting today (150-years since the first-publication) until Darwin’s 200th birthday on the 12th February 2009. Hurray!