The Fearless Goat Out in the Wild

Canonical Ltd. finally released to the wild the ‘Fearless Goat’ or officially called “Intrepid Ibex“. This is version 8.10 of Ubuntu, the most popular Debian distribution today and is gaining more converts from the GNU/Linux OS in general as well as Microsoft Windows and Apple OSses.

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is the main distribution of Canonical which is based on GNOME desktop. Kubuntu on the other hand is based on KDE, Xubuntu on Xfce. All these, together with Medibuntu (for media/entertainment enthusiasts) and Edubuntu (for education like schools) are now officially v8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

Ubuntu comes in two editions - a Desktop and a Server. Yesterday, a few hours before the official announcement, I was able to download early the final version of Intrepid Ibex. I installed it to upgrade my existing v8.04 Hardy Heron and after a few moments, this new wallpaper showed up:

New features that comes with v8.10:

  • 3G Support
  • Write Ubuntu to and Install from a USB Drive
  • Guest Sessions
  • BBC Content
  • Latest Gnome 2.24 Desktop Environment
    • Empathy Instant Messenger
    • Time Tracking
    • Ekiga 3.0
    • Compact List View in Nautilus File Management
    • Tabbed Browsing in Nautilus File Management
    • New Deskbar Plugins: Calculator, Google Search, Google Code Search, Yahoo! and Wikipedia.
    • Twitter and identi.ca updating via the Deskbar
    • New Screen Resolution Controls
    • New Sound Theme Support
    • Better Digital TV
    • Preparing for GLib/GTK+ 3.0
    • and many more
  • still FREE! Both as Free-of-Charge and Freedom to use, redistribute, …

Of course, Compiz-Fusion desktop enhancement always comes to mind when we talk about Ubuntu and Linux in general. Here’s my first desktop edits after installing/upgrading to 8.10 Intrepid Ibex:

Get the latest Ubuntu now only at: Ubuntu.com and be (an) Intrepid like us.


Sources:
Press Release: Ubuntu® 8.10 Desktop Edition enables mobile, flexible computing for a changing digital world
Compiz-Fusion: Compiz Fusion Website
GNOME: GNOME: The Free Software Desktop Project
(X/K)Ubuntu Community: Official (X/K)Ubuntu Community
Pinoy Ubuntu Community: Philippine Team
Wallpaper: Ubuntu Glass Wallpaper
More Wallpapers: Wallpapers @Vistafeel.com

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licensed under a Creative Commons License.

The Davao Experience (Hopefully Soon)

More than a year ago, I felt very “unFilipino” when my Lakbayan grade turned out to be a grimace-worthy D. For the purpose of entering the blogging challenge sponsored by Cebu Pacific, I thought about taking it again but decided against it in the end because honestly, the list of places I’ve been to is (a) pitifully short, and (b) has not been added to for the past couple of years anyway.

I haven’t been to anywhere outside Luzon. In fact, the farthest points I’ve ever visited are Benguet up north (after all, I did study in Baguio) and Batangas down south (where I spent my 19th birthday with my Geography 1 classmates). I’m very vocal about these facts even if they’re not exactly things one should be proud of, and I find them to be sorry excuses for not knowing a lot about the Philippine geography. My mother, who’s a well-traveled person, always hears about my woes regarding my lack of “The Philippine Experience” — erhm — experience. It’s such a shame that I’ve been to a neighboring country when I haven’t even seen my own backyard, so to speak. All that’s going to change pretty soon, I hope.

One of the places I’m dying to visit is Davao City. Pa’no ba naman, people have been actively promoting Mindanao destinations left and right, and Davao City seems to be one of the most well-loved places in the bunch. My mother — who’s in the hospital right now, by the way, and still recovering from the appendectomy she underwent 3 days ago — has already been there, and she tells me stories about the Royal City and how she fell in love with it. DepEd and the school she works at always hold seminars in beautiful cities all around the Philippines, and I always get pretty pictures and nice stories as pasalubongs. I’d like to be the one traveling once in a while, and bring home the pictures and the stories for once.

It’s always a pleasure being exposed to other Philippine cultures. That, and the different specialties in foods that different places have to offer. I want to taste the ever famous exotic durian fruit (I’ve had durian candies, but nothing beats the real thing…I think) and know for myself if it indeed “smells like hell but tastes like heaven.” I’ve always been a city girl, and I want to know how the city life in Davao goes. If Davao is anywhere near as awesome as Mindanao Bloggers have been saying, then I’d probably feel like I’m in heaven.

In all actuality, what I know about Davao are only what I’ve studied and read about it. I’m eager to find out more about it by feeling the place myself, visiting the tourist spots not just as any other tourists, but as a Filipino who loves the diversity and beauty of the country. (Of course, there’s a very illogical fear that I wouldn’t wish to go back to Manila once I’ve experienced life in Davao. )

Hmm…I wonder if there are a lot of gorgeous Dabawenyo guys to ogle at. Cebu Pacific just has to let me find out.

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Airport Indignities

Let me warn you that this is probably going to be the most scattered entry I have on such a touchy subject but I don’t really have the time nor the patience to attempt to be politically correct at this moment. Right now I am sitting at the domestic terminal of the San Francisco airport, waiting for a flight to Chicago and I had a not-so-pleasant experience getting from the airport entrance to where I am right now.

I know that the rigorous airport inspection at the entrance is all standard procedure, you know, just in case I have a bomb up my crotch, but just because this was standard procedure doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to feel slightly humiliated throughout the entire thing. I had been warned that the security inspection at the entrance would be incredibly thorough. First you have to place all your things on trays and stuff, then you have to step through a chamber where they blow air all over you - I have no idea what the fuck that was for. Then more metal detector like inspection before they finally let you through. It sounded like such a pain in the ass but I figured, if everyone has to go through it, I’m not gonna make a big deal about going through it myself too.

But I was wrong. Apparently, not everyone goes through the humiliation of getting inspected in public for being a potential terrorist. If you’re carrying a US passport, fine, you can go on ahead and place your things on the conveyor belt but wait - you have a Philippine passport! You’re like, poor and stuff right? You guys have a Communist party with an armed wing that we considered as terrorist groups, don’t you? And hey, weren’t you like a former colony of the United States? You guys must be mighty angry at us for fucking up your culture, government, and economy! Stand right here please, you look like you want to blow up our country.

So maybe the airport inspection people didn’t put it that way but they could have been that forward and crass and I would have probably liked that better because at least it was honest. But no, they had to shield their suspicion with a sheet of saccharine niceness that was sickening. I was horrified when they singled me out of the and told me to step aside, “away from your companion,” they specified, referring to Ale. “Don’t make any eye contact with him,” they added, as if, I dunno, blinking at him would activate the bomb I was hiding somewhere in my body. Then I stepped through the air chamber that blew bursts of cold air all over my body. It was at this point that I noticed that nobody else but me and Ale was going through the whole cold chamber, no-contact inspection. All because we carried foreign passports. I was starting to get pissed.

Then I stepped out of the air chamber and rejoined the rest of the passengers who were being inspected. Except the only things that were being inspected on the other passengers were their bags. The airport people started running all these metal detectors all over my body and again I realized I was the only one who was being so thoroughly checked. I couldn’t look at anyone’s faces because I could feel their eyes watching me, and at one point I actually had to blink back tears of rage and restrain myself from shooting sarcastic statements at the inspector person like, “Look, I could make your job tons easier by removing all my clothes right now, down to my underwear, just so you can make sure I have no fucking bombs strapped onto my body. Because right now, being naked in front of all these people wouldn’t feel any less humiliating. Hell, if you want to really make sure, I’ll even let you look between my legs and up my ass.”

At this point, I’m pretty sure I sound like an overly defensive foreigner in America, and maybe I am being a little too sensitive and too proud for my own good. But if you had been there, standing in front of everyone and getting inspected for being a potential terrorist in front of all the passengers just because you’re not an American citizen, I’m sure you would have felt something similar. And if you’ve ever experienced the same rigorous and humiliating inspection, then felt nothing because you thought that what they were doing was for the protection of the passengers on the plane, well fucking shame on you. I am telling you now that the whole spectacle of the inspection was done to protect everyone from you, the non-American potential terrorist. If I were you, I’d feel furious. And I would like to let you know that I am furious at you for not being furious at the indignity of the whole thing.

I want a cigarette but smoking a cigarette means stepping outside of the airport and stepping outside the airport means having to get inspected all over again. And if I have to go through all that one more time, I will throw a hissyfit that will convince them that I am indeed a terr-rist. And maybe offering to have them look up my crotch for any hidden bombs won’t even make them think otherwise.