The Aethernaut’s Halt Launched

After around two day work I have finally started a new on-line scrapbook called The Aethernaut’s Halt which replaced a previous on-line scrapbook. It is a new venture which should allow me the fun of creating a scrapbook full of my own taste in music, comedy and miscellaneous items. It should end up a fun mix of articles.

In the process of creating The Aethernaut’s Halt I learned how to setup, modify and use the Textpattern CMS package. All of which I found easier than I expected though you do need a working knowledge of Apache, CSS, HTML and MySQL to go through the whole set up on your own server. It is lucky I have already gone through similar processes setting up a WordPress.org page on the same file server.

At the start I did have a crisis of confidence in my own abilities which I soon got over playing around with the Textpattern CMS software which created a very passable blog page though I will still will be tweaking over the next few weeks. But the whole process was very quick and easy one you got the hang of modifying the software.

All has been a very good exercise which keeps my hand in setting up and using software packages like Textpattern and WordPress. Though I still have to learn how to set up secure web sites especially if I go down the path of setting up Linux on old laptops as a business.

So another journey starts and to follow it just visit The Aethernaut’s Halt site at the url: http://theaethernautshalt.duckdns.org/.

If you require more information about the Textpattern CMS software I used to create the site go to the url: https://textpattern.com/.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to The Abode of The Steam Powered Story Teller.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Freinds by Gas Light!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my on-line scrapbook just follow the link to The Aethernaut’s Halt.

Please Note: If you are interested in my new venture a local role-playing group specialising in story telling systems just follow the link to The Enlightened Company of Role-Players of Stafford.

Resurrecting My On-Line Scrap Book

I am thinking of resurrecting my on-line scrap book under the new name ‘The Aethernaut’s Halt’ as a place where I can put my favourite music, videos, pictures and other things. It is something I did before and I am doing again mainly because I am bored again and want to look into setting it up using a different software package to host it.

Now I have the fun of searching for a new software package I can host on my own server here one which will allow friends to comment and add to the scrap book. This search and setting up is something I like to do every few while as it keeps my mind active and gives me a chance to learn something new and potentially useful.

So watch this space for the launch of ‘The Aethernaut’s Halt’.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to The Abode of The Steam Powered Story Teller.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Freinds by Gas Light!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my new venture a local role-playing group specialising in story telling systems just follow the link to The Enlightened Company of Role-Players of Stafford.

By Gas Light and Not by the Bright Lights of Facebook!

This is journal entry is a reminder to friends and those who want to know more about my personal view of my life that I now never post personal statuses about my life on the mainstream social networks, the likes of Facebook and Twitter, but on closed social networks, the likes of Anybeat and Friends by Gas Light.

This is because I do not trust the security and privacy of the mainstream social networks, especially Facebook which has in the past and it is still doing at the moment that is abusing their position of trust to sell personal and private data to third parties including corporations and governments. It is not that I have anything to hide but it is the fact that they have broken the trust between providers and users by making a profit at the expense of people’s privacy.

So now I only use these social networks to bang my political drum and promote my local role-playing group though on the rare occasion to broadcast something important to all my friends there. There you will not get a view of my more personal side of my life including my taste in music and photographs of our dogs etc.

The more personal statuses and views of life are made in closed social networks where my privacy is respected plus the networks in question are not run for profit but so people can socialise on real terms free from the pressures and falsehoods of the mainstream social networks. I also feel less constrained what I can say because of their very nature they are closed networks with people who are more likely to like myself so they will be less likely to take what I say the wrong way.

So if those out there want to see a more personal view of my life at the moment you will have to join one of these closed social networks whose details are given below.

Currently I am member of two such closed social networks which are called Anybeat and Friends by Gas Light. Anyone can apply to join these social networks though new members have to be approved by the Administrators first before they can become part of the social networks.

Anybeat is a small social network using HumHub which describes itself as ‘Where drifting beatniks harbour….’ which is the latest incarnation of the Anybeat social network which has been around on and off for last few years. It is Administered by one Boot Sector who maintains the site I believe single handed. It is a good place to hang out with more liberal minded people which is small enough to be personal and I would recommend it.

Friends by Gas Light is my own personal social network which I host on a server at home again using HumHub which acts as place where I can socialise with friends and keep up with members of the local role-playing group, ‘The Enlightened Company of Role-Players of Stafford’, I am attempting to organise. The social network has unusually has two aspects depending on the group a new member joins on creation of their account. That is if a new member joins ‘The Proletariat (Members)’ group they will see the social aspect of the social network while if a new members joins ‘ The Proletariat (Players)’ will see the role-playing group aspect of the social network. Those who want to see more personal view of my life need to join ‘ The Proletariat (Members)’ group.

Please note on both social networks if you want to see my personal comments about life you need to add me as a friends.

The above sites are found at the following urls:

Anybeat: https://anybeat.org/.
Friends by Gas Light: http://friendsbygaslight.duckdns.org/.

So if you brave enough please join me on one of these social networks as I know Anybeat is always on the look out of new and interesting people.

For those of you are interested about the HumHub software used to create the two social networks just follow the link for more information: https://humhub.org/.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to The Abode of The Steam Powered Story Teller.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Freinds by Gas Light!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my new venture a local role-playing group specialising in story telling systems just follow the link to The Enlightened Company of Role-Players of Stafford.

Facebook: The Thin Edge of the Wedge!

Looks like Facebook yesterday tried to censor anti-government posts targeted at the Mrs May’s Government here in the United Kingdom which has not gone unnoticed by those who were effected!

I suspect that Facebook will feel the backlash though it has gone unnoticed by the mainstream press which makes the whole situation highly suspicious indeed!

There are those out there who will say I am making a mountain out of a molehill but on past form of Facebook and Mrs May’s Government it would not surprise me if it was an attempt by our government with the conclusion of Facebook to suppress any opposition to their policies here in the United Kingdom.

Be warned this may be the first of the attempts by Mrs May’s government to censor any opposition post on Facebook and beyond so we need to be very vigilant just in case they try this again!

I don’t call Mrs May’s government Fascist for nothing!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal miscellany of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to The Abode of The Steam Powered Story Teller.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Freinds by Gas Light!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my new venture a local role-playing group specialising in story telling systems just follow the link to The Enlightened Company of Role-Players of Stafford.

I.T. is a Wide Church!

It was one of those weeks when you have to smile at people’s ignorance about the I.T. Industry even after for existing for over 40 years.

That is due to its nature there are a lot of roles within the Industry from Software Engineers, Support to Hardware Engineers whose jobs span a wide range of skills need to keep the I.T. Industry functioning.

Each role has it’s own set of skills some of which overlap but not all for example a Programmer is an expert in writing software not fixing and installing hardware but people outside of the Industry fail to appreciate this. They have this strange notion a programmer can fix computer and operating system problems or a Hardware Engineer can fix software.

But I should not really be surprised about this misconception even after computers being around 40 plus years a large majority of people both in and out of work still do not realise the real power and difference to their lives computers could give them. Plus little understanding of work needed to create a computer and the software which runs on computers especially the wide range of skills and knowledge required.

I find this very disturbing in so much especially in everyday world around me as it highlights just how badly our society’s technological, cultural and social progress has stalled over the past decades since the advent of computers!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal miscellany of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Open Source: Another Quiet Revolution!

I have to smile at those around me who claim to be experts on computers and software who really have no real idea what is happening in the computer world or because of what they do turn a blind eye to it in the pursuit of money.

The simple fact they have missed the growth of Open Source during 2016 to a point it now even used and endorsed, be it indirectly, by the likes of Microsoft something that would not of been contemplated in 2015.

But the simple fact we are seeing the results of a quiet revolution which has shook to foundations of the computer industry and even basic concept of Western Capitalism itself.

A revolution which will eventually make the power of the big computer corporations over both the computer hardware and software market simply irrelevant.

Basically more and more of the progressive companies out there are discovering that the concept of Open Source, especially in computers, simply makes more sense economically as they now do not have to waste as much need monies on actually buying licences, support and training because the large Computer Corporations always overcharge in the belief they are the only suppliers of computers out there.

Add to this because the people creating the Open Source software are closer to actual users of the software they are far more responsive to the users needs than the bigger corporations who have in recent decades set themselves apart from the users. If anything they treat users with open contempt and as cash cows to be exploited.

As I said I have to smile at those around me who ridicule me just because of my views about Computers and Open Source software but I always will have the last laugh as I do what I preach. That is I use hand me down computer components and open source software every day and frankly I have far more time to be productive and creative with my computers because I can simply do things rather than constantly fight with software which simply does not do the job.

Add to this I can do all this with little real outlay of cash other than on hardware and I start to wonder who is the bigger fool here as I did not buy or need to buy overpriced software full stop.

This also highlights the advantage of having an open mind over a closed mind as those with open minds move forward and not cling to a past which has long had it’s time.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

What Do People Do Not Get?

I still do not get the fact that some people out there do not who still do not get that posts on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and the such is in the public domain unless they specify otherwise.

It is as if they do not get they are connected to a worldwide network which accessible by billions of people, groups, governments and even governments, though in this case most governments have failed to grasp the concept of the internet which is another story.

So still I regally hear stories of people around me of people who have posted things on Facebook which have landed them in trouble both at work and with other people simply because they did not understand what they posted was public.

Though in the end I suspect more that none has never pointed out to them that posting on a social network is public unless you specify otherwise. It might have been an idea if someone did as it would of saved a lot of people, even celebrities, a lot of red faces!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Second Life Highlights An Issue!

Once again in a conversion with someone who never experienced the virtual world Second Life who thought it was a game not what it has actually become a vibrant and colourful social network. That is a place where people meet socialise some of which would normally not be able to get out of their homes for various reasons.

This further enforced by a Computer Gaming industry which still fails to grasp the simple fact what Second Life has become. Though we should not be surprised by this as both the industry and it’s players tend to be very focus on their games to a point they tend to be socially inept and extremely closed as individuals. Over the past few years gamers have not helped their causes by blatant discrimination against female players as it is still a male dominated industry and hobby.

But what this highlights is a real issue with some who socialise on the internet which can be directly attributed to this gamers attitude towards games in general in so much they have become detracted from people in general and seam to have lost the ability to associate people with images and words with the real people behind them.

This has rubbed off on general users of social networks and the such who have followed the gamers along the same path. The upshot of which people think it is acceptable to verbally bully, abuse even say anything they want even if it is criminal as they have this strange disassociation that they are somehow anonymous and safe on the internet.

But one thing all have forgotten and those of us who have the perception already know you cannot hide behind words or an avatar on the internet as your words and actions there can have the same effect and land you in as much trouble, even legally, much as face to face encounters of people.

The internet does not protect you or gives you the right to treat people badly or with disrespect.

It is a simple fact much as face to face interactions when dealing with people on the internet you are dealing with a real person who has real feeling and issues. Just because the interactions are via words, Avatar even within a game it is no different than dealing with them face to face.

In conclusion when you are interacting people on the internet you are still interacting with a REAL PERSON and you cannot hide behind the internet as you will be still have to face results of your bad behaviour there.

What I find so sad even after 20 years of the internet some people still cannot get this simple concept!

As a final note there are gamers and employees within Game Industry who do get this concept but they form a quiet majority who seam almost afraid to speak out for some reason!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

My Social Web Site is Retiring!

I am retiring my Social Web Site, BitQS, as I need the space on the hard drive which holds the site and it has served its purpose in so much it it proved that I could create and maintain a social web site if I wanted to.

As all things it has come to its natural end as I need the space on the drive on the server to start to create the next version of my home page whose idea is starting to form in my head. At the moment I am looking around for ideas and tools to create the new site.

So with the closing of the year it will be closing of old and start of the new so watch this space!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Facebook: Same Old, Same Old!

I have been back on Facebook for a few weeks to find that Facebook is much as I left it over year ago with same piss poor user interface which is pitched towards those who want to do business rather than socialise. Add to this it’s user interface is still confusing in places especially with their privacy system which is still full of holes and not exactly clear in it’s implementation.

But I was expecting a lot for those in Facebook to actually spend time improving their users interface as it still shows they put their investors before the user and it will be something they will eventually suffer for.

What makes this whole situation even more comical is the fact that the smaller social network packages for example BuddyPress, Oxwall and others provide so much more customisation and better privacy systems both of which actually work and far simpler to use and set up.

But Facebook reflects it’s founder real lack of insight into what people actually want and would like but what he wants at the expense of the users.

The biggest joke of myself returning back to Facebook is that to combat the negative effect of Facebook on my depression I have had to lock down my profile so tightly that it is difficult to find and once found only a select few can only see my posts. This is the joke as Facebook is supposed to be Social Network to meet new people but to stop it having the detrimental effect on my depression I have to literally disappear from the plain view on Facebook.

This is the saddest indictment of Facebook those of us who suffer from anxiety or depression to survive it without making things worse we have to remove ourselves from mainstream of Facebook. As I have said before the mainstream of Facebook I far from a healthy place for anyone.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.

Facebook You Are Bit Late With VR!

Recently Facebook was sort of looking into Virtual Reality, VR, again using the Oculus VR technology though they are now over 10 years too late even with the technology which has been around for decades but never too off.

If the owners of Facebook had actually being paying attention to the internet around them rather than patting their own backs because they think they are so cleaver would of noticed virtual reality in the form of on-line virtual worlds for example Second Life, OpenSim, Inworldz, them just to name a few has already been done and thriving. If anything these virtual worlds have become social networks in their own rights with the added advantage of virtual content including Avatars.

But as always the mainstream social networks always run behind with technology uptake and tend to use technology which never took off in the first place as the likes of Oculus VR has been tried before and was met with same indifference from users in general due to cost and basic usability.

As a last comment I bet Facebook will claim they were or are the first to use virtual reality in a social network regardless of the fact some 10 million plus people already use it ad have used it as a social network for last 10 years. But as always Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is good at using other people work and claim that he did it.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.

Returning Back to the Devil’s Playground!

Most annoying thing I am going properly have to do all in effort to reconnect to friends I have lost and who have not moved to other social web sites I am going to have to return back to Facebook or the Devil’s Playground.

It feels like a real defeat but it may be the only way I can get back with friends who I am missing a lot currently and for my own health and sanity I need to reconnect myself to. Currently I am feeling very isolated from the world around me something which is really not doing me well.

But this time as a defence against the worse excesses of Facebook and it’s large majority of anti-social, bigoted and hate filled members this time my profile will be closed down totally so only people who are friends can only see my profile.

Strangely this defeats the whole point of being on social web site in the first place but in the case of Facebook it is the only way people, especially with depression, can cope with the more nastier side of Facebook. All this because Facebook continues to fail to deal with abuse, bullying and trolling on it’s social web site because it’s owners believe it is all part of the freedom of speech regardless of the fact it harms people.

Also this time the profile will carry the minimum information required to be viable with everything else being held elsewhere outside of Facebook in an attempt to thwart the data trawlers there. Though I suspect that closed profiles are never very popular on Facebook as they are viewed by many people and defeat their basic ethos of their so called social web site.

In the end as I said this feels so like a defeat for my principles but sometimes we have to swallow our pride to do something we need to do, in my case reconnect to lost friends.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.

Windows 10: A Step in the Right Direction!

Windows 10 now has been out for a few months and used in anger by a large number of users out there it has become very apparent it is a step forward not step backwards for normal users out there. A step forward which has been long overdue for domestic Window users as it is certainly more functional and usable than Windows 8 ever was.

Basically Windows 10 is what Windows 8 should have been a real improvement on the previous to previous versions of Windows which kept the much loved desktop with the start button and menu. Add to this they have actually made the improvements in the background which include a smaller footprint and performance improvements.

The upshot of which because of where I currently work on a Tech Desk we are noticing less complaints and issues from Window 10 users simply by the fact people simply return less because of issues with their computers other than usual teething issues of a new operating system which is to be expected.

But as always there are dark clouds associated with Windows 10 due to Microsoft and the way it does business and treats it’s users which may of softened a bit but still has an unhealthy edge to it. Microsoft is still very high handed with way it does it business and told a lot of half truths about Windows 10 especially to the business customers.

The biggest lie Microsoft has told it’s business customers is the fact that they can stop updates of Windows 10 but it turns out that in the end business users can only defer not stop updates. This regardless of the potential issues this could cause business users with software compatibility and stability of the computers. After all some business users are far more demanding than domestic users and expect their computer systems to be reliable as their business depend on this fact.

Add on top of this Microsoft downloading Windows 10 onto people’s computers using Windows 7 and 8 regardless of the fact that person in question informed Microsoft they did not want to upgrade to Windows 10 either by saying no or ignoring the upgrade prompt. This has caused some major issues with people who are using mobile broadband because of it size and also smacks as high pressure selling on Microsoft’s part.

All this once again highlights that Microsoft attitude to users has not improved if anything they have got better at hiding it behind a better media and advertising smokescreen which once again ruining a real step forward in their main product Windows 10.

In conclusion Windows 10 is a step forward but as always Microsoft itself is still same as it is always been putting business before it’s users which I find saddest of all!

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.

BunsenLabs Carries on the Magic of Crunchbang!

This weekend I finally got around to updating the Linux on my small laptop to newer linux mainly because the Crunchbang Linux currently on the laptop was slowing down which was all due to my use and abouse over the past few years. Add to this I had issues updating Crunchbang because of issues with AMD’s Catalyst driver as one day they may get around to making this an easier process but I’d not hold my breath.

So I decided to bite the bullet and load up the next incarnation of Crunchbang Linux which is BunsenLabs Linux based on newer Debain called Jessie and still uses a slightly modified Openbox desktop.

Other than a number of issues which were easily corrected by little research and replacing number of packages used, the whole process was painless as I previously found when I loaded Crunchbang on the same laptop. I have ended up with a laptop which once again which is very usable and flexible for a low specification laptop even to a point of getting even more out of the hardware than Crunchbang Linux did.

The only major issues I had were usual issues you even get with Windows and hardware with allowing hardware going into sleep mode which always causes the laptop to lock totally or lose it’s network connections with only option to unlock the laptop is to switch it off. I also had issue with the screen saver going into a lock screen which also caused major issues and it had to be replaced with previous screen saver package used by Crunchbang Linux.

Once this issues were fixed and using Debain’s native AMD graphic card drivers rather than using AMD drivers themselves, I am initially finding my whole experience with BunsenLabs Linux has been a very good experience indeed. This is at a great contrast when I used the actual Debain 8 which turned out to be a big disappointment with major desktop and performance issues to a point I had to stop using it.

I would recommend that both current Crunchbang uses and the more savoy computer users who are looking for their first Linux that they go towards BunsenLabs Linux even in it’s current first release form as it is very usable, customisable and certainly gets the best out of the computer hardware.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.

BitQS: Back After a False Start!

After a false start my personal social web site BitQS, or Bubbles in the Quantum Static, is back this time implemented using Oxwall again with the hope that things will got go west again and last for the few months the previous social web sites lasted.

All depends on my luck which has been poor with my personal social network software unlike my personal homepage and blog written in WordPress. One thing it did highlight the fact WordPress is very good at what it meant to do is being a blogging tool but very poor at being anything else including being a social network. All this because of the lack of real control and testing of it’s third party plugins and themes which tend not to work well together and now for me let down the whole WordPress experience for me.

Regardless of this my small social network for my friends and acquaintances both in the real and virtual world is up and running again under the new shorted name BitQS. Though it is open to anyone who wants an alternative place to be or to get to know myself more as there will be exclusive content on the social network not available elsewhere.

So I am sounding like a broken record which me luck that this venture into my peronal social network lasts longer than my last attempts!

If anyone is brave enough to join me there just follow the link: http://quantumstatic.duckdns.org/.

Please Note: If you are interested in a more personal scrapbook of mine just follow the link to Patterns in the Static!.

Please Note: If you are interested in my home page just follow the link to Experiment No. 3.

Please Note: If you are interested in my small social network just follow the link to Bubbles in the Quantum Static.