Ultimate Star Wars Fanboy Movie.

Of course, every Star Wars fan has heard of this movie. I forgot about it for the longest time, because it has been literally 10 years in the making. I first heard about it 8 years ago from a friend who was all excited about it. I haven't even thought about it in probably 3 of those 8 years because I have not heard any new news about it. Of course, until now. The movie in question is Fanboys. It is what they call the "ultimate Star Wars fan movie".

Set in 1998, it centers on a group of friends that go on an adventure across the country to break into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and steal a copy of Episode I: The Phantom Menace before it hit theatres. So why is it in the news? The reason is because the production company that funded the film is now trying to change a key element in the plotline. The original plot had a character with terminal cancer that is a major Star Wars fan. It is for him, that his friends embark on their quest to break into George Lucas' ranch. They are unsure if he will live to see the movie in theatres, so they want to get it for him so he can watch it before he dies.

The Weinstein Company, who is distributing the film under Miramax, is unsure about the cancer plotline. Steven Brill, who was brought in to do reshoots and re-editing of the film said, "It would be irresponsible to release it." The film company is unsure how they will be able to make people laugh in the movie theatre after the mention of cancer.

A very large online protest has been formed and you can read about all the news on it here: Stop Darth Weinstein! I of course agree with their feelings on this. I think that the move should be released with its original plotline. Two reasons I feel this way, is one that I don't like political correctness, and I feel that this is what it is ultimately about. The movie studio does not want to feel responsible if people who have cancer are offended by the movie because they may see it as "making fun" of people who are dying from cancer. Also of course, they wouldn't want to lose money by people not going.

The other reason is that they didn't come up with a good alternative. They just reshot the movie with no mention of cancer. So it will seem as if these guys just woke up one day and felt like stealing the movie. While yes, it might still be really funny, I think that it would take away a whole depth to the movie. What's interesting is that Ernie Cline, who wrote the original story for the movie, realized what the movie industry can do. "Unless you're putting up all the money yourself, making a movie seems to be an endless series of compromises," he said. "It's hard to know what that means until you actually go through it. The Weinstein Company can do whatever they want. They put up the money. But it is against our wishes and it's done purely for monetary reasons. The cancer version had heart. It's now a forgettable road comedy with no heart and no soul."

We'll see when the movie is released what is going to be done about it. Hopefully the original plotline makes it to theatres. Support the cause!

Why We Use Linux?... To Be Different.

    Saturday, An Amazing Mind posted a blog about the real reason we use Linux. He suggests that regardless of what people say, or what the "norm" is, the reason that Linux users use that perfect OS is because it is "fun". Yes, this is definitely one of the many reasons… it is a lot of fun to use. But I do not think that is the only reason. Let me explain.

    Linux is largely unknown. For centuries, one of the constants in human nature is the exploration of the unknown. I firmly believe that no one person can know everything about the Linux OS. This is because Linux is constantly changing. Like in a previous post that I had, currently, ndiswrapper is set to not be compatible with the newest version of the kernel. Slackware 12.0, which was release last year, is fully compatible with the ndiswrapper application by default. That will change with Slackware 13.0 (or 14.0 if they are superstitious) if it uses the newest version of the kernel. This means people like me, are going to have to figure out a new way to get their wireless card working if they want to upgrade to the newest version of Slackware.

    This makes the world of Linux unknown again in regards to wireless networking to people in my situation. It opens the door for new challenges and new obstacles to overcome. In contrast, Windows is largely the same from version to version (all versions since Windows 95 have been based on the same layout). Because Microsoft does everything for you, if something doesn't work, Microsoft fixes it, releases an update, and you install it. Now whatever wasn't working before, is working now. This presents no challenge, nothing interesting, just... "Oh look… my sound doesn't work anymore. Microsoft released an update. Downloaded it, installed it, and now my sound is working again… yayyyyyy….". Windows turns your average computer user, and even techie geeks into robots.

    Linux is so much more than just having fun. It's about expressing your personality, challenging your mind, and educating yourself on how exactly computers do certain functions. Linux is almost like snow… no two systems are exactly the same. Windows is all about making everyone follow a mandatory standard that some rich 40-year old in an Armani suit, who knows nothing about how computers work, decides is the "best" standard. Windows strips people of their individuality and their creativity. Of course it also strips them of their security and their rights to manage their own computer. Linux just frees people to be themselves and work against the grain to come up with new and daring ideas without taking control out of their hands. Linux is just… freedom.

    Besides, windows are stupid pieces of glass that only allow you to look at your world. Penguins allow to you experience and interact with your world.

Ndiswrapper… Farewell?

Ok, so it is well known on here that I am an avid Linux user and supporter of the Open Source community and also support the freedom of software, the freedom to do what I want on my computer and on the web. Now it seems, however, that that community has taken a step towards becoming what I hate so much about the Microsoft business model: loss of freedoms. And this is being begun by none other than Linus Trovalds.

Now, if you don't know who Linus Trovalds is, he is the man who originally wrote the Linux kernel back in the early 1990's. He is now the project coordinator for the kernel development team, and he has final say as to what goes into it. This is all fine and dandy, however there are a few problems that could arise out of this, and I feel that one has.

The kernel development team is working hard on the next stable version of the 2.6 kernel, 2.6.24. According to this report the most recent update to the 2.6.24 kernel "…broke ndiswrapper by accidentally removing its access to GPL-only symbols." According to the report, Pavel Roskin, who is an avid supporter of the GNU Operating System, said, "Revert that change and add comments about the reasons why ndiswrapper and driverloader are treated in a special way."

Linus responded with the following statement:

"I'm not seeing why ndiswrapper should be treated separately.

If it loads non-GPL modules, it shouldn't be able to use GPLONLY symbols.

So if ndiswrapper needs GPL-only symbols, you'd better ask the people who made those symbols GPL-only whether they could be made available to ndiswrapper.

ndiswrapper itself is *not* compatible with the GPL. Trying to claim that ndiswrapper somehow itself is GPL'd even though it then loads modules that aren't is stupid and pointless. Clearly it just re-exports those GPLONLY functions to code that is *not* GPL'd."

My biggest confusion with this whole thing is I am not sure if this is a legal issue or not. If what the developers of ndiswrapper are doing technically doesn't follow copyright law with the windows drivers, then I would understand why Linus and other authors of the new kernel would want support dropped for it.

However, if it is not a legal issue, in anyway, and the only reason that they are trying to basically get rid of it is because THEY don't see a point in the app, or don't particularly care for it, then I think that they should just suck it up, and let it stay. There are many people out there (including myself) who are pretty much forced to use ndiswrapper because there are no default Linux drivers for their wireless cards.

I know that as of right now, I would be unable to use my Linux laptop wirelessly if ndiswrapper, or another app similar to it, was not available. Taking out the ability for the app to work to push a personal agenda will only deter potential Linux users away from the OS, and undermine what the whole ideology of the open source community. I honestly feel that they are starting to make themselves no better than Microsoft by wanting to take support out for something they do not care about. Hopefully the developers of ndiswrapper will combat this change by rewriting their code to allow ndiswrapper to work in the new kernel.

Puppy Torture Outrage

Wired.com posted a story about three Marines who supposedly threw an 8-week old puppy off of a cliff out in Iraq. You can see the article here: Puppy Torture. After the article, there were a bunch of comments left by people who bashed people in the military, and here is my comment that I left on the site. Please post your comments on what I said here.

My biggest problem with this, is not the fact that it could be real (even though I think it is fake), but the fact of what image things like this gives to people about the military.

My girlfriend is a prime example. She gets upset, when we are at the movies and they have one of those military ads before the movie starts. She feels that the makers of the ad (the military) should be required to show what "war" is really like to give people a "more realistic" idea of what the military is. Which in her eyes of course, is an extremely violent and horrible experience.

While fine, she is allowed to have this opinion, I really think this kind of attitude is detrimental to the needs of not only the military, but this nation. We need people to join the armed forces. Do I agree with the war in Iraq at this point, no; I do think we need to start coming up with an exit strategy, but right now, we are out there, and we need people to be ready to support our military personnel that are currently deployed in the event that something happens unexpectedly that requires more troops to be deployed. If something were to happen, and no one is joining the military, we won't have enough personnel to go out and support our troops that are already out there.

The other point I want to make right now is that we need to support our troops, because for the most part, they are only following orders from their superior commanders. Yes, obviously, there comes a point where moral responsibility overrides an order from a superior officer and they should have the moral fortitude to say no to an order that violates that moral responsibility.

The other reason of course, is that people who join the military are NOT dumb people. Overall, they are NOT evil by nature. It takes a great deal of courage, honor, and duty for an individual to sacrifice what our men and women sacrifice for their country. People who join the military need to be honored, respected, and remembered for their service to this great country of ours. Talking down about them and spitting on their memories and sacrifices is like talking down, and spitting on the flag of our country and on its citizens.

I am not one to say, "My country: always right". However, I think it is much more damaging, and wrong for people to say, "My country: always wrong." As far as I am concerned, if you hate this country so much, then why are you here? I cannot remember who said it, but one of my favorite things to say to people who hate this country: "Yes, you have the freedom speech. However, you also have the freedom to leave".