At work there is a running joke where my boss sends a late night work-related email and receives reprimands from others for working late - at an even more absurd time.

Since my Module 5 results will be released this evening I thought that I should send the announcement at some silly time like three in the morning. The only problem is I don't want to actually be awake and have to send the message at that time.

Luckily, I can schedule the email to be sent from my server using cron, assuming I can send it using a simple command. I've done some research and for your benefit (and mine) here is how to send an email from the command line.

echo -e "This is the body of the email. Use \n for line breaks" | mail -a 'From: "Your Name" <your-email-address@domain.com>' -s "This is the subject of the email" recipient@domain.com

You can add additional recipients by simply adding more at the end of the mail command. To add additional headers to the message add another -a 'your header here' to the mail command.

Today I heard the wisdom of JerryLeeCooper.  JerryLeeCooper happens to be a rather uninformed Microsoft fan who enjoys ranting about how he dislikes Linux.  He manages to mask a complete lack of technical knowledge with 'excessive verbosity'.

I found a collection of his writings here and enjoyed reading them for their comedic value.  I thought of having a contest for who could spot the most technical inaccuracies in one of his posts, but I'm worried the list would get rather long.  Here is one of my favourite posts of his:

The linux cannot reliably be employed on modern hardware

Yes, well, I did receive quite a few pointed 'pointers' about linux not requiring windows, but I am yet to be convinced on that score.

I did witness first hand just the other day, a demonstration of a machine loading up the linux, and several points piqued my interest for sure.

Firstly, the machine loaded into the Microsoft boot sequence prior to loading the linux. This is the segment of the operating system which counts down the memory, and configures the A:, C: and D: drives prior to loading the Microsoft windows. Although the machine did not display the familiar windows animation, it was obvious that the linux was freeloading off the back of this prior installation/boot sequence. The aforementioned demonstrator, upon further questioning, even admitted that 'Oh, That part is not the linux', and then went on to confuse the issue with technical jargon. However, one cannot mask a simple act of piracy with excessive verbosity. A fool and his lamb are worth 2 in the bush.

Now - I will admit after some further research, that the linux is not in fact a complete copy of Microsoft Windows. My research indicates that it is in fact a copy of Unix. I bet you didnt know that young man ? Yes, its a straight copy of Unix, even down to copying verbatim codefiles straight from the source of Unix. I believe there is a court case in progress regarding this latest discovery. The magnitude of the theft is now becoming apparent.

However, this remarkable fact may well uncover the answer to Ed Bott's mystery linux installation failure. You see, the Unix was designed to run within the VHF to UHF spectra (much like a radio), which is all well and good until you consider that modern computers run in the microwave range, at which regular radio reception starts to have serious issues. If one were to use a UHF receiver to tune in to a quad-phased broadcast in the Microwave spectra, one would fail miserably.

I would wager a bet that Ed Bott's computing apparatus was a more contemporary design utilizing a 3GHz central processor unit (or CPU). Under such frequencies, the linux would literally tear itself apart, its code lacking the internal cohesion to sustain this extreme environment. The Microsoft by comparison, is streamlined and engineered to withstand this Microwave environment, thanks no doubt to the forethought of its designers.

And of this there is ample evidence, which one can easily do an msn-search for and witness first hand. All of this evidence is on the public record, and cannot be denied.

Over the past month, this blog has picked up a huge ammount of comment spam. Due to a bug in the blog software I am using, when I try to delete one comment, it usually deletes all the comments for the post including legitimate ones. Upgrading the software has proved to be a massive hassel in the past, so I don't think I will be going down that road.

Consequently, I have decided that I need to move to a new blogging platform. Now don't worry, the blog will be right here and the URL won't change, but everything will be fresh, new and empty. I'm not sure what platform I will use since I want a truely flexible setup, but be warned - large changes are coming.

If anyone knows of some flexible, versatile and free blogging software, please let me know. Right now I am considering WordPress or WikyBlog.

EDIT: In an effort to get rid of comment spam, I have deleted all comments posted in the last sixty days. I don't think any comments were left in that period, but if I deleted anyone's comments I am sorry.

A wonderful Linux command is: sudo find /web/sean/blog/content -type f -mtime -60 | xargs rm -f which deletes any file created in the last sixty days in the folder and sub folders of your choice. Yay for time saving!

As part of my summer-end cleanup I format my computer to clear all the camp stuff off of it and make way for university-related stuff. This year, for a change I decided to try Christian Ubuntu instead of Fedora Core 5 which I normally run.

My first impressions of Christian Ubuntu are good, they made some nice graphics and added "Christian Edition" under all the appropriate logos. One thing that I noticed was that this is a live CD (a version of linux you can run without installing to your hard drive). Either I am blind or this wasn't mentioned on the website. I like the idea of a nice lightweight CD which contains several Bible translations and commentaries.

I installed the operating system from the CD to my hard drive and was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. Some of the hardware in my laptop like the wireless card is slow to configure in Fedora, but was up and running with no intervention.

The two key features of the distro are Bible study software (gnomesword) and a Internet filter (dansguardian). I won't go into the performance of the Internet filter because I didn't really test it, but it is too sensitive for some of my browsing habits. (Emily we need to talk...)

Gnomesword is the most valuable part of this distro. It is a program that comes with several KJV type bibles (due to copyrights on NIV, NLT, NRSV, etc.) commentaries, and a Bible dictionary. You can view either a chapter at a time in regular view, or a verse from up to five different translations in parallel view. Should the existing Bibles and commentaries not fit your needs you can connect to the Internet and easily download more translations. All in all; it's pretty much what you would expect in a study program.

The only real downfalls are that you can not easily get the NIV, NLT and Message translations for gnomesword. Luckily someone has hacked up a script which downloads a copy of the translation of your choice from biblegateway.com and prepares it so it can be used in gnomesword.

This is a good distribution for Bible study, it is missing some packages needed for day to day use, but those can be easily downloaded. If I were to grade it, it would get an A.

Today I was browsing the interweb and I saw a interesting post on Boing Boing; Christian linux. Apparently someone decided that Christian computers need a squeaky clean operating system to be run on them.

Why? Why I ask. Was there some big problem with all other operating systems or did the need arise for Christians to set themselves apart from other people using other computer software.

Anyways my curiosity has been peaked. This news coincides perfectly with the annual fall formatting of my hard drive before university starts again. Therefore, next week when I am home and enjoying non-dialup internet, I will download this lovely operating system and write a review that will be posted on here.

Stay tuned.|