I’m a new guy to Linux and I have LinuxMint KDE running on my PC as a dual-boot to Vista (still need it for music!). One of the greatest things to ever hit Vista was Google Chrome and for the past year that I’ve used it on Vista, it’s been my primary browser; it’s faster and uses less resources than FireFox or IE does in Windows.
So when I loaded up Linux and saw that there was a Chrome version in testing for this operating system, I jumped on it and downloaded the ‘unstable’ 4.0.249.30 version. Right away, I could tell there were issues, as it was far slower than on the Vista OS and seemed to freeze when javascript ran or when I opened a new tab as a page was loading. Sadly, I stopped using Chrome on Linux and stuck with Opera.
On December 8, Google announced the Beta version for Linux was released and I leaped with joy! I thought “I bet they solved all the issues with the freezing and the bugginess”, and why wouldn’t I believe that? Their email notification even stated:

Google Chrome is go for beta on Linux! Thanks to the many Chromium and WebKit developers who helped make Google Chrome a lean, mean browsing machine. Here are a few fun facts from us on the Google Chrome for Linux team:

60,000 lines of Linux-specific code written
23 developer builds
2,713 Linux-specific bugs fixed
12 external committers and bug editors to the Google Chrome for Linux code base, 48 external code contributors
Thanks for waiting and we hope that you enjoy using Google Chrome!
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Today, it was announced that a Florida jury awarded a 60 year old with emphysema $300 million in compensatory and punitive damages, ‘because she claims the cigarette company committed fraud against her.’
The claimant stated she took up smoking at age 20 in 1968, ‘because she thought it made her look older and more sophisticated’; ironically enough, she wasn’t that far off, since we all know the aging that tobacco smoke does to one’s face. She quit after 25 years of use, but as you can imagine, that was too late and the effects of 2 ½ decades of smoking took their toll on her lungs.
The jury returned the verdict and, this is no joke, they claim ‘Ms. Naugle [claimant] was 10% at fault and Phillip Morris [defendant] was 90% at fault.’ The issue I, and no surprise Phillip Morris, take with the issue is the amount of damages awarded to this woman for using a product that has been clearly labeled as dangerous by the surgeon general since before Ms. Naugle started smoking. While there’s no argument from me that cigarettes are a blight on this nation, they are, nevertheless, a product that requires the user to make a choice.
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It seems like only yesterday we were listening to the daily rantings from Bill O’Reilly about how ‘the liberals have a war on Christmas‘.

Well, it seems Bill’s dreams have come true; Walmart and the rest of the American retail market has decided that 2009 is the year that Christmas came back. On November 1, Walmart and many other retailers started to run holiday ads and shortly after, the Christmas ads came on TV and in print.

This week’s Walmart ad:

So it would seem that Bill and the Christians of America can rejoice; the evil Liberal media have relinquished their power and ‘allowed’ Christmas back on TV. Yet, I don’t recall seeing any specials from Bill rejoicing in the newly shifted focus of marketing. I wonder if it’s because Bill and his followers are gracious winners… or if it’s because people never really gave a shit to begin with?

This country is a melting pot and although we have Puritanical roots and a Christian majority, it is respectful for marketers and others to embrace all the holidays of the season. Regardless of the roots of the Liberal PC movement that makes people feel they need to recognize all faiths, all those faiths are an important part of our past and future; it’s only fair we show them all respect.

You know, Jon Stewart made this quote when Bill and others went on their rampage and I think it still rings true:

“Does anyone know…does the Christian persecution complex have an expiration date? Because…uh…you’ve all been in charge pretty much since…uh…what was that guys name…Constantine. He converted in, what was it, 312 A.D. I’m just saying, enjoy your success.”

We all know we live in a Christian majority… all I’m saying is that we don’t need Christmas shoved down our throats; we have enough of your Jesus fish and crosses to remind us.

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EU says Texas, Nation Should End Executions
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/63904292.html

In a nationally run story the other day, the EU chastised the US and Texas for continuing to dole out capital punishment for crimes.

The issue with this statement is that the EU is trying to compare apples to oranges. On one hand, you have the EU, which is a conglomerate of European nations, all small and all diametrically different than the US. On the other hand, you have the USA, which is a conglomerate of individual states, whom are diametrically different than European nations. Having the EU condemn America for the use of capital punishment is like America condemning them for the use of the abusive VAT (value added tax) system, on top of their already exorbitant income taxes; which Americans do not do. One simply cannot apply laws and policies to all nations uniformly, as the geographical differences between the continents and nations create societal differences and norms that work for that locale. Americans should be offended by what is alleged; while 34 states use capital punishment, 15 (and Washington DC) do not, so by pigeonholing the entire nation as not ‘progressive’ is offensive to those states that have decided to cease the punishment. What Hafstrom, and many others in Europe, neglects to realize is that we are a federalist nation, made up of 50 states; essentially, we are identical to the EU as a whole and each state is likened to the nations that make up the EU in they each operate autonomously; certainly all the nations in the EU don’t have identical laws, do they? Of course not, because each nation has its own societal norms and cultural expectations.
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If you’re like me and decided to use the Conectiv box for a sound card for Traktor and you’re using Vista, here’s some info you can use, that no one else seems to have listed anywhere; I had to piece this together from other sources.

First off, you should probably go to the M-Audio site to download the latest Vista 32 Bit driver: Conectiv_V32_5.10.00.5112v2. Note that 64 bit Vista users will need to use a DIFFERENT driver; if you’re using 64 Bit, you’ll know, so don’t worry, you’re probably using 32 Bit.

After you install the M-Audio driver, connect Conectiv. Open up the icon in your taskbar and take a look at the upper-right corner to see if it says ‘Connected’.

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