Top Down View

I never upgrade my main machine to a new Ubuntu release on day 1.
It’s not really that I don’t trust the release crew to get it right, it’s more about wanting to let the storm of downloads, patches, reviews, comments and advice settle before I take the risk (however small) of being without a machine [...]

So it took rather longer than anticipated but I finally got to pay a visit to Free Geek Vancouver at the weekend for my introductory volunteer training session (and also to donate a trunk full of unwanted hardware of my own).
First impressions? Besides the rather unsavory neighbourhood (two blocks North of Hastings, just East of [...]

I was at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival at the weekend and ran across a stall for Free Geek.
They’re a volunteer organization that takes people’s unwanted old computers, strips them down, ethically recycles the unusable parts, takes the reusable parts and builds them into fresh computers. Then loads Ubuntu onto them and sells them dirt [...]

I bought an apartment when I first lived here. I still have it now and rent it out. I was over there this morning doing some work and, as I left, I saw an enormous pile of stuff stacked up beside the dumpster.
On further investigation I found a full dinner service, set of speaker stands, [...]