Tag search: "200908"

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Password recovery

Fill out this form to recover a lost membership password. (28 August 2009)

On rights, liberties, and claims

Roger Ebert wrote an excellent piece about the current US healthcare nonsense. I don't have a lot to say on that particular topic; I'm not sure how much interest it has for my readers, and he's much better positioned to talk about it and be listened to than I am. One thing I'd like to say, though, is that it reminds me how glad I am I'm living in Canada. Another thing is that, okay, Ebert talks about how "socialism" is a dirty word and used as an excuse for turning off one's brain. Any rational argument on US healthcare can be trumped by calling the other party "socialist." Well, in Canada's own health care debates, which are going on right now though on a much smaller scale than the ones in the States, we have a dirty word like that too. It's used as an excuse for abandoning rational thought. If you propose a plan and I disagree with it, all I have to do is accuse you of proposing a (this dirty word) plan, and that's it, I win, no more debate allowed. Just like calling someone "socialist" in the USA; but the dirty word in Canadian health care debates isn't "socialist."

(24 August 2009)

Books I've written

Book-length works available online (18 August 2009)

Membership list

List of Ansuz members who've chosen to make their profiles public. (15 August 2009)

Kaago progress

It is my plan to work full-time in the calendar months September to December 2009 writing a book. This page tracks my progress, both for the interest of Web site visitors and because having a public visible progress indicator will help me stay motivated. If you want even closer to real-time reports on my status, you should follow my twitter updates.

(13 August 2009)

Ansuz membership creation

Fill out this form to create an Ansuz membership. (7 August 2009)

Membership profile editor

Use this page to edit your membership settings. (7 August 2009)

Japanese, Korean, KDE 3.5, Slackware Linux, and LaTeX

I recently started studying Japanese, and so I wanted my computer to work in Japanese too - if nothing else so I could use it to prepare study aids. I use a home-brewed configuration of Slackware Linux (effectively "Linux From Scratch," though I didn't actually follow that project's how-to documents) and I wanted the Japanese stuff to work nicely with the rest of my configuration, including the application software and tools I already use for Canadian English. And I wanted to typeset in Japanese with LaTeX. That meant it wasn't as simple as just choosing "Japanese" during installation of one of the more entry-level distributions. Here are some notes on what I had to do, which may be helpful for others in similar situations.

(5 July 2009)