Upgrades are a bitch
Note to self: next time, actually pay attention when upgrading system packages.
My VPS is down at the moment, because I inadvertently upgraded the
glibc package. No ETA yet and when I'll get it back up. :(
2010¶
Saying goodbye to Tumblr
In my very first post, I lamented the fact that I seemed to be locked into Google's (admittedly very shiny) services—which I then followed up with a list of possible replacements for specific services. I suppose I'd forgotten that it was being locked-in that was the problem, not who I was being locked-in with.
I suppose I rationalized it by thinking that "lock-in" is a rather harsh way of putting things (which it was) since I could always get my data back—except when I can't. The recent extended Tumblr downtime brought the idea home rather forcefully. Sure, I had most of entries backed up, but that was mostly luck.
Anyway, I've relaunched my blog, and its setup is now almost entirely under my control.
I'd like to say thanks to the people who liked my posts enough to either tag it as such, or even reblog one or two of them. I'm keeping my account open, if only to keep on following the interesting folks I found here, but I'll only post on my Ersatz Genius 2.0 (heh) from now on.
(Or, maybe, when I have some free time, I'll write a plugin that will auto-post my blog entries here, too. That should be fun.)
Ersatz Genius: now with 50% more crap!
About a week ago, Netizens were up in arms, rallying to the nearest forum/microblogging service/Intarweb journalist, complaining bitterly that Tumblr seemed to be down. And down it was.
Twitter was, of course, filled with the virtual gnashing of teeth of Tumblr users (while WikiLeaks-related topics were apparently being censored). While I was a little miffed, I wasn't sored that my blog was down; I was just sore that I couldn't get my latest entries.
My own Tumblelog from scratch in 24 hours
See, at that point, my entries up until 29 September, 2010 had already been backed up. As per my original post, I'd already begun fearing lock-in--in my post, I was referring specifically to Google, but I didn't want to be locked in with anyone.
So, back around October, I decided to sharpen my Ruby skills (which had grown rusty, due to my abhorrence of how Rails the framework had become the same as Ruby the language to many noobs). I pulled up Tumblr's API, opened an Emacs buffer, and started coding. (Afterwards, I rewrote the whole thing in Python, just for kicks).
Next, I set up an instance of lighttpd on a VPS I got cheap, then got PyBlosxom running on top of that, started writing a custom plugin that lets PyBlosxom render Tumblr posts plus a minor design refresh, and I was off!
You said 24 hours. It's been about a week since Tumblr went down.
Eh. I worked on my blog during my spare time. An hour or so every night, I'd be setting up a bunch of little plugins that I either wrote from scratch or existing ones that I customized a bit. Or tweaking some aspect of the design refresh. Or finding bugs, or missing features from the old blog that I'd want to keep.
All in all, not counting the time I've spent writing the latest two entries and setting up the server itself, it's been less than 24 hours, actually.
There are still missing features, though. Like search. I'm still looking into tying my blog into an instance of Xapian. It seems easy enough; just need the time to do it in.
Tumblr backup tool
Yeah, that. I still have it, of course, both the Ruby and Python versions. I suppose it'd be better off in the public domain (since it's a very simple script to pull down posts and group them by ID and by slugs). It's not up anywhere, though; if you're interested, drop me a line.
It's named keel, by the way, since I wrote it to minimized the hassle, should Tumblr ever keel over either temporarily, as it did a short while back, or--gasp!--permanently.
As for the PyBlosxom setup (i.e., the custom and customized plugins), I suppose, it'd be easy enough to put it up under a free software license at some point (if there's enough interest).
Undocumented features
There're undoubtedly bugs lurking somewhere. And there are still features I'm planning on putting in later. If you find something that bothers you, let me know so I can get right on it.
I'll get back to my regular mud-slinging in a bit.
Faith, Religion, Dogma ... OH, MY!
Consensus does not mean structure.
I ask that you keep this in mind for a while yet. See, in her post What is Structured Religion?, my friend Aileen cites a dictionary entry for religion that refer to it as a set of beliefs a number of people agree upon. That's all well and good, but does that automatically mean that they're agreeing to upholding a particular structure?
What if people agree that chaos is all that there is, and that disorder and order are but illusions? Do their agreement to a belief in a lack of structure actually constitute structure?
And thus have crossed over to things that are meta.
See, there's nothing innately structured about a religion--or, rather, if there is, then you can't get two people to agree on what that structure looks like. You may have each other's back on the general features, but when you get down to the details, then all bets are off.
See history for precedents.
Upside-down sand castles
As I read her post, it occurs to me that the structure she has built is shaky; not the foundation, mind you, which I can get behind with. But the quivering mass standing on said foundation believes its head to be its feet.
One of the central ideas in Aileen's post is the idea that one's faith spirals from a Church down to one's self. She may not consciously believe so, but that's how her post was written--or, at least, that's certainly how it come across to me.
Now, friends and regular visitors know that I'm not a big fan of religion. Organized religion scares me. It has the power to control a person's brain, to dictate a person's life, to override a person's actual beliefs.
Again, see history for precents. Specifically, checkout the Crusades, the Jihad (as propagated by militant Muslims), and read about how Adolf Hitler possibly waged war on the Jews, at least in part, for perceived crimes against the son of a Jewish carpenter.
As I said, I'm not a big fan of religion. But I ain't got no truck with faith. With spiritualism.
Faith and spiritualism != Religion
This may come as a surprise to some, but I'm actually a pretty big fan of the Jewish carpenter's son. In fact, I take pride in the idea that I'm more of a Christian than other people (well, except for the, you know, hubris--but who isn't sinfully proud these days?). It may not seem so, especially to those with whom I often talk with, but I'm pretty big on faith and spiritualism.
I suppose that's kind of stupid, coming from an unabashed atheist.
The smarter ones will, of course, figure out immediately what I mean when I say I consider myself more of a Christian that others who profess to such an affiliation more often and more openly. I'm Christian in the sense that Mohandas Gandhi was:
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
I didn't start this way, of course. Although I still had an admittedly-un-atheist propensity for following the spirit of Jesus' "laws", I was (I suppose understandably) in active denial over what I was doing.
It was only after I had realized that I can divorce faith and spirituality from religion that I could marry my appreciation of the teachings of religious leaders with my inability to believe in deities.
Such a view, I suppose, would be hard to swallow for most people. I never really got it until after I started getting into Buddhism. Although, to be honest, I'd have to admit that I probably still haven't really got it.
The point is, faith and spiritualism are only intertwined with religion if one were approach the issue from the premise that a Church bestows such on a person, as Aileen does in her post:
The Church has taught me how to have a personal relationship with my Savior. I have learned how to express my faith through its teachings and I will forever be grateful for that.
Personally, I always thought that religion should be built from the ground-up, with the faith of its individual members lending a Church the credibility and the power. Although, I suppose, at some point, it can't be helped that a Church grows enough that it has power by itself.
Which, as I mentioned earlier, scares the crap out of me.
Reconciling renunciation with (perceived) affectation
Towards the end of her post, Aileen calls out those she perceives to be hypocritical (and, in my opinion, rightly so)--those who say they're sick of religion one second, then calling out to a deity the next time they're in trouble.
This, I can get behind of. In fact, I'll lead the ghoddamned charge, if I could.
However--and this is mostly the point of this whole post--I believe that, for the most part, Aileen is directing her righteous anger at the wrong target. For later on, she states:
They've been too quick to say they don't believe in structured religion and yet you'd see them making the sign of the cross.
Here's an exercise: Change the word "structured" into "organized."
Better? Because that's what I think the prostitute (read Aileen's post for context) actually meant. Organized religion. She was not attacking faith, nor professing disbelief for all deities. She was just saying she didn't like all the hullaballoo surrounding most organized religion.
Is that really bad?
So what if she still performs the rituals she grew up with? Again, her problem isn't with her faith (which I believe a personal thing that ought to be untouchable by anyone), but with all the pomp and circumstance. Are we to deny her the right to choose and practice her faith merely due to a misunderstanding? Over a poorly chosen word? One that anybody could've done in their stead?
I didn't think so.
So, yeah, let's poke fun at the expense of the hypocrites, and the blind jerks leading the blind fools, the smart ones who will never, ever get it because they've been drowning in prejudice from childhood.
But let's cut the prostitutes with limited vocabularies a break.
So that was it? You couldn't write a comment, instead?
Part of having a blog is partaking in the back-and-forth of discussion between friends. For most discussions, the comments area suffice. However, in this case, there was more that I wanted to say, and, no matter how much of an asshole you may think I am, I will not commandeer a friend's comments area in that way.
Excommunicate Me!
The CBCP threatens politicians who support the RH bill with excommunication. But our representatives are not backing down. To ensure the passage of the bill, they are willing to risk being excommunicated.
So are we.
On November 26, 6pm, we’re throwing an excommunication party to celebrate our freedom to choose what’s best for our own bodies. Join us at Adarna Food and Culture for an evening of dinner and entertainment as we take a stand for secularism and call for the immediate passage of the RH bill.
Technically, I'm still a Catholic—on paper, at least; and, in my experience, appearances are more important to these folks than reality—so I can still be excommunicated. :D
Anti-RH Bill Catholics Harass RH Bill Supporters
The Filipino Freethinkers and the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines went to the Manila Cathedral where an anti-RH bill discernment mass was supposed to be held.
Unfortunately, they were denied entry from the chapel for wearing Damaso-printed shirts, which these organizations have worn to express their disagreement with the CBCP’s position.
Lorna Ferrer, a member of the DSWP, told Mr. Manalang that she was Catholic. Mr. Manalang responded with, “You are not a real Catholic! You are an oxymoron!”—implying that Catholics who use or support any form of artificial contraception could not possibly be “real” Catholics.
Here are just some of the statements hurled at members of the Filipino Freethinkers and the DSWP by Manalang and company:
- “This is our territory. Get out of here!”
- “Damaso is a fake. You’re a fake! You are the Damaso!”
- “Get out of here, Satan!”
- “You should tell your mother that she should have aborted you!”
As the organizations walked away, Pro-Life advocates continued the barrage with “Get out of here, Satan!” “Away, Satan, away!”
Meanwhile, the anti-RH reflection service was going on inside. One of the speakers, Dra. Angie Aguirre, asked the churchgoers inside: How many have read the actual text of the RH Bill? Less than ten percent raised their hands.
Self-righteous pricks. "You are the Damasos"? Whoa. Biting comeback, whiny bitch. No one's insulting anyone's "mother" church, you ass. People who actually have brains are questioning the beliefs of the members of a particular church.
Heh. A Gandhi quote comes to mind...
Anyway, I have to ask: Of those "less than 10 percent" who acknowledged reading the full text of the bill, how many were lying?
20 October is Spirit Day
What is Spirit Day?
The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, is a simple one, not dissimilar to the idea of "Spirit Week" held in many high schools, and can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together.
Spirit Day honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it's also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them.
Purple symbolizes 'spirit' on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.
As one of the event's Facebook pages says: "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple."
Wearing purple on October 20 is a simple way to show the world that you stand by these courageous young people and a simple way to stand UP to the bullies. Remember those lives we've tragically lost, and show your solidarity with those who are still fighting. 'Go Purple' today!
What PHP's variable variables really mean
OK, here's the thing: this is only the entrance of the rabbit hole.
If you understand what this expression really does, you realize that you're gazing upon the entrance to R'lyeh.
Do you think you don't need your soul anymore? If you do, follow me into the lair of the Elder Gods. But be warned, you will die a lot inside.
Most PHP programmers won't understand the significance of this, even after they read it. The PHP fans will even rejoice at the "flexibility" of their champion. But the purists and the weenies (and especially the smug weenies) will cringe and possibly weep at this chicanery.
Because it's what's hip nowadays
Apparently, a number of recent visitors here have found my blog through Google. Though unsurprising (Google is, of course, most people's start page, as it is, to the Intarwebs), what got me chuckling was the queries they've used that got them here.
Looking at the analytics logs, the ones that tickled my vanity more than a little bit were: the real author of hb 5043, and house bill 5043 reaction paper. The bill was initially written and sponsored by Edcel Lagman, by the way. Which in no way helps you, if you subscribe to the boneheaded conspiracy theory spouted by penile-headed bishops that the RH bill's existence is due to pressure exerted by the multinational companies that make and market condoms, birth control pills, and other contraceptives.
Of course, both queries turned up a link to my rant from a year ago. I'm not bothered by the thought of some high-school kid ripping my essay off and submitting it as his own (if you're searching for an HB 5043 "reaction paper", you're probably in a Catholic school, and my militant-libertarian style definitely won't pass muster, even if it weren't laced with too much profanity). What bothers me is the idea that it'll get passed off without the kid (or, *gasp!*, the teacher) even reading it—which is sort of what I had in mind when I wrote it.
It's fun imagining what would happen if a high-school kid did try to pass my essay off as his own, though, if only to try and figure out what his teacher's reaction would be. Probably die of stroke. By the way, I think of that visitor as a "he", because, in my experience, girls tend to actually try and write reaction papers assigned to them.