Claudio Saavedra

Go forward in time to May 2008.

Mon 2008/Apr/28

• Last night, after having recovered enough sleep after FLISOL, I started working on a clutter frontend for EOG. The progress after a couple of hours learning about clutter and hacking (click on the image for a screencast):

  

  Not sure where I want to get from here, but I have some ideas. Making the thumbnails view a widget on top of the clutter canvas, accelerated zoom and image rotation, and stuff like that, are what come to my mind right now. Let's see if I get something.

Wed 2008/Apr/23

• My dad was discharged yesterday and is now at home. Besides the additions to his daily dose of pills and the increased frequency of his clinic visits, everything is back to normal.

• On Saturday, FLISOL, the Latin American Free Software Installation Festival, will be held at different locations in our continent. My alma mater is organizing the Maule edition and I've been invited to give a user oriented talk about the GNOME Desktop, so I'll be traveling to Talca.

  I'll also give a hand to the people willing to install Debian GNU/Linux on their computers and to the brave ones trying to build GNOME from sources. I encourage you to attend and have a nice time learning how to use your computer without proprietary tools and why this matters.

  

Sun 2008/Apr/20

• Some Chileans are getting it wrong, again. And the worst is that these Chileans, to some extent, claim to carry the free software advocates and promoters flag.

  During the last weeks, I received SPAM from two different entities that promote, in different ways, free software in my country: Corporación Linux and GNUCHILE. I was very surprised when I received the emails from them, which showed that they don't understand how much the FLOSS communities and developers all over the globe reject and disapprove the usage of massive unsolicited email.

  The first SPAM came from Corporación Linux, a Chilean company that gives support on Linux and other free software technologies. I don't know much about this company, but I'm first of all surprised of their usage of both the name Linux and the Tux Penguin. After some research, I found out that you actually need permission from the Linux Mark Institute to do this, so I notified the Institute about this possible trademark abuse (note the emphasis on "possible" –I'm not really aware of the permissions they may have to use the Linux logo and name, and that's why I notified LMI in the first place).

  The second SPAM came from GNUCHILE, a Chilean foundation devoted to the spread of the GNU operating system and Free Software in general. The contents of the SPAM seem noble: it's only an invitation for people to attend the FLISOL in Santiago, next week. Still, it's discouraging to see them using SPAM for this: the end doesn't justify the means.

  I'm concerned, because this is the kind of issues that may give the wrong impression about the people behind FLOSS. I'm sure that most of the real Chilean contributors, advocates, and developers of FLOSS are against SPAM, as a matter of principles. Therefore, seeing these people using it makes me feel like we are moving backwards.

Mon 2008/Apr/14

• Dad was moved out of the Acute Care Unit last Friday, but has not been discharged yet. In the general sense, he is pretty fine now. Some tests still need to be done and he should stay in complete rest, so he won't be discharged before Friday.

• I've been pretty lazy during the last weeks, and specially now because of my dad's situation. I haven't feel in the mood to do much in any front. I suppose it's natural after many months of stressful work. I think that plugging me off of computers and taking a few days away would be optimal, but I don't think I can afford it in the short term.

  To compensate, I started reading an Erich Kästner's book I bought in Dresden and never finished. It's great to realize that I still can read German fluently, even when Kästner is not Goethe and therefore his writing is reachable.

  I also started watching Numb3rs, even when desrt warned me that it's yet another series and there's nothing special about it. Now I agree with him, but I have to say that I like the way they show math as a useful resource everywhere. A few years ago there was a CSI hype in Chile, and a lot of high school graduates started studying forensic sciences as a consequence. I really wish there would be a similar Numb3rs hype and more people started studying maths or computer science but, of course, that's just a dream.

Thu 2008/Apr/10

• Yesterday, I had to take my dad to the ER of Hospital Salvador, where he was diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. The doctors decided that he should stay in the hospital while they find a suitable treatment and his heart rate stabilizes.

  I visited him today and he's in a very good mood, although his heart still beats at a irregular rate. They'll be running more tests on him, and he'll probably be moved out of the acute care unit in the next days, so I'm pretty calm at the moment.

  The situation overall has been a little stressful, though, as it's the first time I have to assist him in a medical situation. Even when he's 65, he has always been very independent and responsible of his health, so all this came to me as a huge surprise.

Tue 2008/Apr/01

• So, I couldn't stand it anymore and tracked down the missing space after the password prompt. It seems to be a localization issue in PAM. I fixed it (together with other similar issues in the translation) and sent an updated translation to the Debian bug report.

  I hope that this will hit unstable soon.

Go backwards in time to March 2008.