Instapaper links for March 2013

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Links I saved onto Instapaper this month:

PenguinCoffee: More cute Tamako Market art

Annexe

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

Cisco Packet Tracer doesn’t work on Windows NT

Software

Don’t download the Windows Cisco Packet Tracer, then put it in your lowest spec VM to save precious SSD space, then let the installer run without problems, then try running it. It won’t work.

This has been a public service announcement by me.

The problem with being spiritual but not religious

Thoughts

As someone who’s counted himself a spiritual atheist for many years now, I read with much excitement this article in Time by Rabbi David Wolpe:

According to the latest Pew report almost one in five Americans identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”

There’s hope yet!

In other words,

Oh boy, here it comes.

they have some feeling, some intuition of something greater, but feel allergic to institutions. Yet as we approach Passover and Easter, it’s important to remember that it is institutions and not abstract feelings that tie a community together and lead to meaningful change.

Yeah, doesn’t it suck when people think for themselves?

Spirituality is an emotion. Religion is an obligation. Spirituality soothes. Religion mobilizes. Spirituality is satisfied with itself. Religion is dissatisfied with the world. Religions create aid organizations;

Absolutely, I can’t effect change or help people because I’m not religious. Glad the Rabbi sorted that out for me!

Feedback

From @Yaakov on Twitter:

@Rubenerd while i’d take what a ‘conservative’ rabbi says with a sack of salt, I don’t see where his post conflicts with your one from ‘08

I thought it was pretty obvious, but for the sake of clarity: the Rabbi’s argument is spiritual people can’t institute change or help the needy, you need religious institutions. As evidenced by non-religious people doing good things, this premise is obviously absurd, hence this post!

Google Keep?

Internet

A new product announcement from Google:

With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what’s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.

Not sure what they mean by “safely stored”. What’s certain (and unsurprising) though: no mention of privacy.

Update: Great tweet from @warrenellis, in light of Google Reader’s closure:

Dear Google: why launch Google Keep when you’ve just proven you’ll shut off productivity services when you get bored with maintaining them?

GNS3: The Graphical Network Simulator

Software

For someone who’s been building home networks since primary school and when 10BaseT hubs were cheaper enough than switches to be worthwhile, I have a shocking lack of formal training. At UTS this semester, I finally find myself working towards my CCNA2 prerequisite (so I can do computer forensics), and this tool has helped me tremendously!

According to the site, "GNS3 is a graphical network simulator that allows simulation of complex networks." An amalgamation of various different tools and projects such as dynamips, dynagen and the Qt framework, the developers have even taken it upon themselves to maintain their own current fork of the former.

Using a Visio-esque drag-and-drop interface, you can configure your network topology, start routers and other hardware, connect virtual machines and monitor traffic. It’s as close as having your very own Cisco lab running on your local machine, which is invaluable for study and gaining experience outside the labs.

The only caveat: you’ll need to provide your own Cisco IOS images for use in the Edit → IOS Images and Hypervisors screen. Ahem.

So far I’ve just been messing around with dynamic routing protocols like RIP between routers, but the next step is to attach some VirtualBox VMs and check out some more complex topologies. Unfortunately, QEMU 1.3.1 and 1.4.0 have both decided to stop working on OS X 10.8.2, which is a right royal pain.

PenguinCoffee: Starbucks dates

Annexe

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

(Reblogged from breezinglove-deactivated2014020)

PenguinCoffee: Cat coffee noms

Annexe

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

(Reblogged from keepcalmandsmileever)

PenguinCoffee: Steaming coffee

Annexe

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

(Reblogged from ammajar-journal-deactivated2014)

Albania and the European Union

Thoughts

A quote from a Deutsche Welle article I added to my beloved Instapaper queue ages, ago but only just got around to reading. Use the original and best, people!

“The common goal of all the states in the region is, one day, to be part of the European Union, where we have freedom of movement for everybody,” [German Foreign Minister] Westerwelle said. “That is why a redrawing of national boundaries is out of the question, including the Balkans. In Europe, borders are losing their significance.”

If they’re losing their significance, what’s the harm in redrawing them then?