Brain Buoys

What can be said about the European Renaissance?

Renaissance is a French term meaning “rebirth,” from the Italian rinascimento, the Latin ri “again” and nascere “be born,” according to an online resource we like to call Wikipedia.

Well, that sounds pretty succinct and dry. Let’s put some meat on those bones.

The European Renaissance was a time of new beginnings. Out with the old, in with the new. The complacency of men was at an end. At least, it was for some. The good ol’ days of doing one job for one’s bread and butter were over.

This doesn’t mean that everyone was able to quit their day jobs. No, they still needed theologians, literary figures, scientists and philosophers. Those men didn’t just up and quit en masse. Relatively speaking, few men transcended their positions to become what we now call renaissance men. These men combined all of these pursuits and more. They were intrigued by and conquered multiple difficult subjects all for a better understanding of the world they lived in.

I like to call these men Polymaths. I think the term fits better. A polymath is someone who excels in more than one area, typically intellectually. A polymath is not a dilettante. A dilettante dabbles and becomes a “jack of all trades, master of none,” as the saying goes. Polymaths are, at the very least, master of a few and fairly superior in a few more. No doubt, you’ve heard of a few of them in your own time.

If I had an ounce of the intellectual prowess these men possessed and a tenth of their focus, I too could become a great figure in the annals of history. But, wait! Can’t I anyway? Don’t I have the ability to apply myself, focus and learn what I need to accomplish my goals? Isn’t that what they did?

As a graduate student, this should be the goal of every one of us. We aren’t just candidates for a Master in Information and Communication Science. No, we are candidates for a Master in Information and Communication Sciences, with an s. The very sentiment of that statement is that we are here to become knowledgeable in more than one area. We are to become, in respect, polymaths.

The European Renaissance may be over, but for us, we select few, we have the opportunity to apply ourselves and become our own renaissance men and women in today’s world, the here and now. Don’t we owe it to ourselves, at least, to become someone more than we were? We’ve been dilettantes in the past. Undergraduate, anyone? We’ve had our passing interests. We’ve dabbled here and there. Now is the time to become masters.

We are the next generation of renaissance men and women.

Posted by Matthew M. Zeller at 06:00 PM | Permalink

Identity theft is easy. Just ask the person who took mine.

More than likely, we’ve all seen those commercials from CitiBank, the ones where the voices don’t match up with the person’s appearance. Those are hilarious to watch…albeit a little less so now.

That’s because I was a victim of Identity Theft.

Identity Theft is when someone else finds your personally identifiable information and uses it for their own good, usually to purchase something expensive in your name. They don’t care what happens to you, the victim. Why should they? They just got free mud flaps with naked ladies on ‘em. Hooboy! Or maybe they just purchased a brand new piece of pricey lingerie. Hotdawg!

Cost? Oh, that doesn’t matter. Not to them, anyway.

My story involves someone using a credit card in my name that I didn’t apply for in any way, shape, or form, and used it to purchase toys from a Spanish toy company based in Florida. In today’s multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial world, I can understand how someone from Indiana might want to purchase Spanish toys for their children from a company in Florida. This is not a stretch, folks. However, it's not something I did.

How’d they do it? More than likely it was through one of my previous email accounts from Yahoo! Somehow or other they got a hold of some of my personal information. For all I know, they may have just used my email address and physical address to apply for a credit card. The fact of the matter is that they took out a card with a $10,000 limit in my name.

My wife is quick to check our bank statements each month. She was before this casualty and she still is today. Thank goodness, because she noticed a blip in our statement that didn’t make sense. I concurred when I realized that I hadn’t purchased Spanish toys to place under the Christmas tree that year and had no intention of doing so. The odd part was that the person who purchased the toys only spent a paltry sum of $20-$30 for the whole month. A modest thief, no doubt, but still a thief. With a $10,000 limit, I wasn’t about to let them put more on it.

We made some calls to the credit card company. They weren’t much help. Then we filed a police report. That got the ball rolling. We called the 3 credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to inform them of the debacle. Letters were written to all three explaining what had happened. I also included a copy of the police report to each.

Now, there is added protection on my current accounts, and there will be more hoops to jump through should I decide to increase my credit or open another card. Perfect. The last thing I need is more debt, and more credit always seems to lead to more debt. It’s just too easy to spend these days.

Luckily, the sum of purchases was small. With some effort, the credit card company reluctantly waived the amount and closed the card. Balance to the universe was restored.

If you would like to find out more about Identity Theft, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has an excellent site with more than a blog’s worth of information. I recommend checking it out even if you haven’t been a victim of Identity Theft. In today's world of lightning fast information exchange at the press of a button, identity theft is easy. The FTC estimates that roughly 9 million American’s identities are compromised each year, and that’s no paltry sum.

Posted by Matthew M. Zeller at 06:00 PM | Permalink

Linux. What is it? You may have heard the term before, but you don’t know quite what it is. No doubt, you know what Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS X are. Chances are good you’re already using one of them right now. Roughly 87% of end users on Earth use either Windows or the Mac OS X operating systems.
Linux is the other guy. It’s the other, other white meat.

Still unclear? Let’s break it down.

Linux is Open Source, meaning that the source code is open to anyone to modify, configure, retool, tweak, and recombobulate however they like. Windows and OS X are proprietary, meaning privately owned and modified. We don’t get to touch the source code as end users. Why is it cool that Linux is open source? You as the end user get to customize it if you feel so inclined. You may also write programs, plugins, APIs, or any other bit of coding you might know.

It’s freely distributable. You’re not supposed to copy Windows or OS X install discs and start sharing them with your friends or putting them on bit torrents. You’ve paid for the discs but that money goes towards the licensing. You’re essentially purchasing a license to use the software contained on that disc. This is not so with Linux. You can make as many copies as you like, distribute them however you like, and give them to as many people as you like. There are no limits.

Need to use Photoshop or Microsoft Word? Linux has you covered. There are thousands of free and open source software (FOSS) titles available to every Linux user. To replace Photoshop, there’s the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). For Word, Excel and Powerpoint, there’s an OpenOffice.org suite of office applications. Need something to help you draw vector illustrations? Give Inkscapea try. There are just too many mainstream application equivalents to mention here.

Here’s another gem. If you really have your heart set on using that Windows only software, chances are, you still can. WINE is software that emulates a Windows layer right in your Linux desktop, giving you the opportunity to install and use actual Windows only software. Cool.

For those really niche software titles that don’t have a counterpart in Linux, you could try using virtualization software such as VMware, or Virtualbox. Basically, it’s like installing another OS on your computer, but as an application. It is what is referred to as a guest operating system. Just install your guest operating system using one of the aforementioned programs, install your niche software inside that guest OS, and you’re off to the races.

Don’t like virtualization? Try dual-booting. This option allows you to install Linux on a separate partition on your computer. When you turn the computer on, just choose which operating system you want to use. If you’re feeling really frisky, try triple-booting!

Linux is a modification of a UNIX architecture, much like Macintosh computers. The UNIX system is used as a backbone for thousands of security and database servers all over the world. If it weren’t secure and robust, it wouldn’t be used to reliably hold important information. Inherently, Linux is a more reliable OS. Typically, it rarely crashes. I heard a story once about a campus computer running Linux as a server and it had an uptime of 20 years. This may be a slight exaggeration, but it’s a testament to the reliability of the coding.

Linux is nearly virus free. And by nearly I mean 99.999% free of viruses. Why? No doubt is has, in part, to do with the fact that Linux is only used on about 2-3% of the world’s home computers and laptops as the main operating system. Who would waste their time coding a virus for such a small minority? The answer is 00.001%. Awesome. The only thing to be mindful about viruses is passing them on to Windows users. Though the virus doesn’t affect Linux due to its architecture, if sent as an attachment in an email it can still infect a Windows user’s computer. Be mindful.

If the above isn’t enough incentive to install Linux on your favorite, or only, computer, try a liveCD. A liveCD or liveDVD is the whole Linux operating system on a single CD or DVD. They range in size from a couple of Megabytes (yes, a couple) to a few Gigabytes, depending on what software is included. Insert the disc into your computer, reboot, and run Linux from the disc and RAM without harming or changing a single file on your computer. It’s a dip-your-toes-in-the-water-before-you-jump-in-and-get-all-wet approach. It lets you test drive the whole operating system, and software, before deciding what you wan to do. If you like what you see, just click on the Install icon on the desktop.

In Linux, there’s only one easy repository for all your software needs. No more searching the internet looking for different .exe files. Just open up your package application and click on the software you want to install. Installation takes just a few moments. Any time there is an update or upgrade to the software, the OS will let you know. Click to upgrade, and voila! Sweet, new features. Windows has something similar, but it will not update all your products, only security updates and Windows software. Same with OS X. Linux updates everything. Boom! Done and done.

For a list of available distributions, shortened to distros, I recommend finding your way on over to DistroWatch. They have a compiled list of the top Linux distributions available, most of which are available as liveCDs. Below is a list of the top 5 recommended distros based on Distrowatch statistics.

+Ubuntu
-#1 Linux distribution in the world and gaining popularity daily.
-Highly user friendly and great for new Linux users.
-Commercially backed by Canonical.

+Fedora
-#2 Linux distribution as of this writing.
-User friendly. More bleeding edge software and updates make this a little less useful for new users.
-Commercially backed by Red Hat.

+Linux Mint
-#3 Linux distribution, and continually in the top 5.
-Highly user friendly and great for new Linux users.
-A modified version of Ubuntu, including codecs for media playback and extra software specific to the distribution.
-Backed by dedicated individuals in Ireland, with programmers and editors from around the world.

+OpenSUSE
-#4 Linux distribution
-User friendly. Very customizable editions now available with the use of SUSEstudio.
-Based in Germany
-Commercially backed by Novell.

+Mandriva
-#5 Linux distribution
-Highly user friendly. Feels as much like windows as any Linux distro can. Great for new Linux users.
-Based in France.
-3 million worldwide users, according to their site.

My personal recommendation? Choose Linux Mint. It’s based on the most widely used Ubuntu, but it includes many more codecs and features. It’s been said that it’s Ubuntu done right. I agree. Don’t let the fact that it’s based in Ireland scare you. Nearly every Linux distro have translators that allow them to distribute their OS in many different languages, all at the same time. I use Linux every day and look at me now!

Posted by Matthew M. Zeller at 06:00 PM | Permalink