“We need to defend ourselves against the predatory practices of some companies making us look bad: a relatively small number of people do enough detective work to realise that it’s the fault of a particular Windows application, but many more simply blame our operating system because it won’t start any more.” Debian developer Colin Watson asks for your help in an effort to mitigate the problems caused by antifeatures built into Windows software that result in broken Windows/Linux double-boot systems.
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~cjwatson/blosxom
Author Archives: edafe
Ban homeopathy from NHS, say doctors
“Tom Dolphin, a member of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, backed the motion. He said he had previously described homeopathy as witchcraft, but now wanted to apologise to witches for making that link.” The British Medical Association calls for an effective end to the funding of homeopathic remedies by the NHS.
www.guardian.co.uk
Cycling’s mystery man shows his face
“Over his nearly three years of obsessing over, satirizing and deftly puncturing the sport of cycling, the anonymous blogger Bike Snob has made his worldview clear. He loves to ride his bike. He wants you to ride, too. Just maybe not on those florescent wheel rims.” The identity of the Bike Snob NYC has been revealed, solving one of cycling’s last great mysteries.
online.wsj.com
In Search Of…

NERD
Virgin
2001
It may not be racist, but it’s a question I’m tired of hearing
“Last weekend, I had The Conversation for the 3,897th time—and this time, it took place in central London just two roads away from the hospital where I was born.” Where is Ariane Sherine really from? I think we should be told…
www.guardian.co.uk
I’m New Here

Gil Scott-Heron
XL Recordings
2010
If the bike fits…
“Following on from last week’s show on well-being, we look at the importance of getting a good fit between rider and machine.” Scherritt Knoesen and Jack Thurston talk about finding the right position on your bike.
thebikeshow.net
No Longer At Ease
Redirecting mail for the local root user
postfix is Ubuntu’s default mail transfer agent (MTA) and can be configured to deliver mail using a relay host that requires SMTP authentication.
Get the necessary packages with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install postfix bsd-mailx
Begin to configure your postfix installation by choosing satellite system as the general type of configuration. Enter the local machine name as the mail name (eg mycomputer.edafe.org) and the SMTP server address of your email service provider as the SMTP relay host (eg smtp.relayhost.com).
Edit the file /etc/postfix/main.cf and add the following:
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options =
relay_domains =
Create the file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd and make the following entries:
smtp.relayhost.com user:password
Substitute smtp.relayhost.com with the address of the SMTP relay host and user:password with your login details.
Continue by executing the following three commands:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chown root.root /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo postmap hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
Instruct postfix to reload its settings with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/postfix reload
Making changes to the alias table
The aliases table provides a system-wide mechanism to redirect mail for local recipients.
Edit the file /etc/aliases to contain the following entries:
postmaster: root
root: user@yourdomain.com
Substitute user@yourdomain.com with the email address that you would like mail for the root user to be redirected to.
Finally, update /etc/aliases.db using the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo newaliases
Mail for the local root user from now on will automatically be forwarded to user@yourdomain.com , using smtp.relayhost.com as the relay host.
www.postfix.org, help.ubuntu.com
Is aviation security mostly for show?
“Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage.” In the wake of last week’s failed bombing of an airplane over Detroit, Bruce Schneier asks us to leverage the inherent strengths of our democracies.
edition.cnn.com
Monitoring hard disks with smartmontools
SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology and is built into most modern hard disks. The smartd daemon is part of smartmontools and monitors a disk’s SMART data for any signs of hardware problems.
SMART is available with Parallel and Serial ATA disks, drives appearing as either /dev/hd* or /dev/sd*, respectively. Use the following command to obtain relevant information for your system:
user@ubuntu:~$ df -hl
If required, start by configuring postfix to redirect mail for the local root user.
Get the necessary packages with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install smartmontools bsd-mailx
Configuring smartd
Edit the file /etc/smartd.conf and comment out any lines beginning with DEVICESCAN.
If you are using a netbook or a laptop, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/sda:
/dev/sda -a -d ata -n standby -o on -S on -m root -M daily -M test
If you are using a desktop or a server, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/hda:
/dev/hda -a -d ata -n never -o on -S on -s (L/../../7/04|S/../.././02) -m root -M daily -M test
See man smartd.conf for more information on how to tailor the operation of smartd to your needs.
Starting smartd
Edit the file /etc/default/smartmontools and uncomment the line containing start_smartd=yes.
Restart the smartd daemon with the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/smartmontools restart
Verify that the local root user has received a test message from the smartd daemon.
From now on, the smartd daemon will monitor the disk and, in the event of impending disk failure, alert the local root user by email.
How constant beatings have caught up with campaigner Peter Tatchell
“Only Peter Tatchell could be so enraged by something that is meant to calm him down. But as he grapples with the complicated security locks on his front door to let me out, it strikes me that perhaps the rest of us are lucky that he cares enough to carry on fighting, whatever the cause.” Elizabeth Day talks to Peter Tatchell, a man deserving of some respect.
www.guardian.co.uk
1.3 million reasons to re-invent the syringe
“25 years ago I read a newspaper article which said that one day syringes would be one of the major causes for the transmission of AIDS. I thought this was unacceptable so I decided to do something about it.” Marc Koska’s K1 syringe improves on an old design.
www.ted.com
Legs To Make Us Longer
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is a free, multi-platform office suite. It includes key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, drawing program, and database module.
OpenOffice.org is an Open Source project and available on all major platforms, including Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. At present, you can choose from more than 100 different language options.
OpenOffice.org avoids the risk of vendor lock-in because it uses a standardised, XML-based file format that makes interoperability easy and your documents future-proof.
OpenOffice.org is compatible with Microsoft Office. The latest version imports .docx files and continues to be able to read and write all the other Office formats.
Get OpenOffice.org
“OpenOffice.org is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose—domestic, commercial, educational, public administration. You may install it on as many computers as you like. You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees—anyone you like.”
download.openoffice.org
Contribute
Submitting Bug Reports
“Simple end users are really critical in the process of making the code better. It’s important for end users to understand how important they are in the process.” OpenOffice.org developer Florian Reuter discusses some of the issues and explains how you can take part.
Support
OpenOffice.org Forum
Interact with other OpenOffice.org users to help with your questions.
www.oooforum.org
OpenDocument software
“This is an overview of software support for the OpenDocument format, an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents.”
en.wikipedia.org
BLACKsummers’night
Cannondale Cross XR 7
Cannondale Cross XR 7 08, wheels Mavic C29ssmax, fork Trigon XC06A, front brake Avid Juicy Ultimate 160 mm, rear brake Avid Juicy Ultimate 140 mm, chainset SRAM Rival 180 mm, chain SRAM PC1090, pedals Crankbrothers Egg Beater SL, seat post Easton EC90, saddle Selle Italia SLR, bar Easton EC90, tyres Schwalbe Kojak 28 x 1.35, weight 8.5 kg
Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals
“When we look at the pattern, one thing comes out very clearly. People say HIV is very high in Africa. I would say, HIV is very different in Africa.” Using Gapminder World, Hans Rosling empowers you to think more clearly about the the ways in which HIV impacts on Africa and the wider world.
www.ted.com
Introduction to OpenOffice.org 3.1
“This is a quick introduction to some of the new features in OpenOffice.org 3.1.”
youtube.com



