Jean Grey cops a feel

I love hidden vulgarity.Was that an accident? No way!

Here's the whole episode.

Right-wing choads and New York cockroaches

It's amazing the type of authoritarian and outright mean-spirited crap the right-wing choads who let O'Reilly vicariously bully for them say from the safety of their basements:
Well, if you care enough, here's the article. Of course, those are the same kinds of high beams who morally equate Obama, Lenin, and Hitler (as if morally equating Lenin and Hitler isn't stupid enough): Thanks to the intrepid reporting of The New York Times, we even get to hear about it. And what exactly does the corporate press want us to think is the difference between Teabaggers and the rest of the Republikan Party? Teabaggers may be somewhat less literate, but that's not saying much.

Slackware with lighttpd, php, and mono (source installations)

This overview of installing the relevant lighttpd and mono software packages from source on Slackware 13.1 is designed as a broad overview. I've been using Apache and PHP for years, but I'm quite novice at lighttpd and mono. Also, despite using GNU/Linux for years at home, I've usually set up servers with stable, upgradeable FreeBSD.

Hopefully this will help others avoid pitfalls (or be of use to me in the future if I ever have to recover). I needed to install a fast web server with PHP and Mono. I've had a lot of trouble getting mono running on FreeBSD, so I decided to go with a GNU/Linux distribution for this server. Being a stickler for things I liked in the past, I went with the one I've always found easiest to use and upgrade: Slackware.

Software packages

As of this writing, the latest Slackware is 13.1, though I assume these techniques should mostly carry over to similar versions. I'm using the 64-bit variety. I was rather liberal about installing most software packages that came with Slackware 13.1, mostly out of laziness. After I was finished installing, I deleted Apache so I could install lighttpd.

The latest mono source files I used were for 2.6.4.

Step 1: Basic lighttpd install

I did a pretty vanilla install of lighttpd 1.4.26. Basically just did:

1. downloaded, untar'd
2. ./configure
3. make
4. make install
   

Simple, right? After this, I took some cues from the lighttpd documentation and set up a simple config file in /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf (you have to manually create the directory). It looks like this:

server.document-root = "/var/www/servers/[site]/pages"

server.port = 80
server.pid-file = "/var/run/lighttpd.pid"
server.username = "www"
server.groupname = "www"

mimetype.assign = (
".html" => "text/html",
".txt" => "text/plain",
".jpg" => "image/jpeg",
".png" => "image/png"
)

static-file.exclude-extensions = ( ".fcgi", ".php", ".rb", "~", ".inc" )
index-file.names = ( "index.html" )

Make sure to modify the document root to wherever you keep your HTML files. You'll want to create the www user and www group or change these to an existing user.

Next up things got a little tricky because there wasn't a readily available Slackware init.d script to start and stop this monster. No problem; I just borrowed one from the slackbuilds.com's pre-compiled repository. I slightly modified it to match the configuration I made:

#!/bin/sh
# Copyright (c) 2007, Daniel de Kok 
# All rights reserved.
#
# Redistribution and use of this script, with or without modification, is
# permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
#
# 1. Redistributions of this script must retain the above copyright
#    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
#
#  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
#  WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
#  MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO
#  EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
#  SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
#  PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS;
#  OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
#  WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
#  OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
#  ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
#

LIGHTTPD=/usr/local/sbin/lighttpd
PIDFILE=/var/run/lighttpd.pid
LIGHTTPD_OPTIONS="-f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf"

is_pidof() {
local STATE=$(ps -p $1 -o cmd= | grep "$2" > /dev/null ; echo $?)
return $STATE
}

lighttpd_start() {
echo "Starting lighttpd: $LIGHTTPD"
if [ -r $PIDFILE ] && is_pidof $(cat $PIDFILE) lighttpd ; then
echo "Already running!"
return
fi
$LIGHTTPD $LIGHTTPD_OPTIONS
}

lighttpd_stop() {
echo "Stopping lighttpd: $LIGHTTPD"
if [ -r $PIDFILE ] && is_pidof $(cat $PIDFILE) lighttpd ; then
kill $(cat $PIDFILE)
rm -f $PIDFILE
else
echo "Not running!"
fi
}

lighttpd_restart() {
lighttpd_stop
sleep 1
lighttpd_start
}

lighttpd_reload() {
kill -s HUP $(cat $PIDFILE)
}

case "$1" in
'start')
lighttpd_start
;;
'stop')
lighttpd_stop
;;
restart)
lighttpd_restart
;;
reload)
lighttpd_reload
;;
*)
echo "usage $0 start|stop|restart"
esac

Save the above to /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd and change the permissions to allow execution (chmod u+x /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd).

Put an index.html file in your HTML root directory. Test your configuration by running /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd start and pointing your web browser to http://localhost to see that your index file loads. Next try to stop the server: /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd stop.

If you just want a basic lighttpd install on Slackware, you can more or less stop here.

Start on boot and stopping on shutdown

To make lighttpd start on boot simply add the following you your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file:

if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd ]; then
/etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd start
fi

Likewise, to make it stop on shutdown, add this to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown (usually empty by default):

if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd ]; then
/etc/rc.d/rc.lighttpd stop
fi

Mono 2.6.4 install

This is the first time I've seen mono install flawlessly on Slackware without using the sources made available by the SlackBuilds. I basically followed the directions exactly as they appeared in the README.

1. ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
2. make
3. make install
   

xsp 2.6.4

To use ASP.NET with lighttpd, xsp needs to be installed. xsp is the package that contains the fastcgi components that allow mono to interface with lighttpd. Once again, I mostly followed the accompanying documentation. I used the config prefix /usr/local rather than the one suggested in the documentation.

The steps I followed to install were:

1. ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
2. make
3. make install
   

A little note about step 2: I had a slight hitch following the standard installation instructions. Using the installation parameters from the above mono install, I needed to specify where the directory holding the file dotnet.pc in order to make the xsp package. Using the find command:

find /usr -name dotnet.pc

I determined it was in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig and simply added the path to the existing PKG_CONFIG_PATH environmental variable.

To find your list of environmental variables, type the env command and hit enter.

Locate get the relevant variable from the list. In my case, it was PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib64/pkgconfig:/usr/lib64/pkgconfig

Reassign the variable by typing

PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/lib64/pkgconfig:/usr/lib64/pkgconfig

into your shell prompt.

It's quite likely a reboot would have solved this problem as well.

libgdi installation

I didn't realize this wasn't installed. It probably should have been installed first! This is necessary to run mono on fastcgi. Anyway, the problem is an easy one to rectify.

Once again, I did:

1. ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
2. make
3. make install
   

Modifying lighttpd configuration to use mono

This part gets a little tricky, but it's doable. Much of my information for this area comes from a document, also linked below, on interfacing FastCGI and lighttpd to use mono.

First of all, create a new directory in your /etc/lighttpd directory called conf.d.

Save the following to /etc/lighttpd/conf.d

# Add index.aspx and default.aspx to the list of files to check when a
# directory is requested.
index-file.names += ( "index.aspx", "default.aspx" )

### The directory that contains your Mono installation.
var.mono_dir = "/usr/local/"

### A directory that is writable by the lighttpd process.
# This is where the log file, communication socket, and Mono's .wapi folder
# will be created.
# For a typical system-wide installation on Linux, use:
var.mono_shared_dir = "/tmp/"

### The path to the server to launch to handle FASTCGI requests.
# For ASP.NET 1.1 support use:
#var.mono_fastcgi_server = mono_dir + "bin/" + "fastcgi-mono-server"
# For ASP.NET 2.0 support use:
var.mono_fastcgi_server = mono_dir + "bin/" + "fastcgi-mono-server2"

### The root of your applications
# For apps installed under the lighttpd document root, use:
var.mono_fcgi_root = server.document-root

### Application map
# A comma separated list of virtual directory and real directory
# for all the applications we want to manage with this server. The
# virtual and real dirs. are separated by a colon.
var.mono_fcgi_applications = "/:."

Next up, the configuration file needs some additions and alterations.

Open /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf and add the following to your configuration under the server.document-root = "/var/www/servers/[your web root]/pages" line:

server.modules = (
# "mod_rewrite",
# "mod_redirect",
# "mod_alias",
 "mod_access",
# "mod_cml",
# "mod_trigger_b4_dl",
# "mod_auth",
# "mod_status",
# "mod_setenv",
 "mod_fastcgi",
# "mod_proxy",
# "mod_simple_vhost",
# "mod_evhost",
# "mod_userdir",
# "mod_cgi",
# "mod_compress",
# "mod_ssi",
# "mod_usertrack",
# "mod_expire",
# "mod_secdownload",
# "mod_rrdtool", 
 "mod_accesslog" )

This is a list of modules. I kept the ones not relevant commented out for now. Of course, many people will want to use some of them, particular rewrite, redirect, and alias. Either way, I prefer to keep things simple for now. Next change the line

index-file.names = ( "index.html" )

to

index-file.names = (
"index.xhtml", "index.html", "index.htm", "default.htm",
"index.php", "default.aspx", "index.aspx"
)

Beneath your new index file list, add the following:

include "conf.d/mono.conf"

fastcgi.server = (
 ".aspx" => ((
               "socket" => mono_shared_dir + "fastcgi-mono-server",
               "bin-path" => mono_fastcgi_server,
               "bin-environment" => (
                       "PATH" => "/bin:/usr/bin:" + mono_dir + "bin",
                       "LD_LIBRARY_PATH" => mono_dir + "lib:",
                       "MONO_SHARED_DIR" => mono_shared_dir,
                       "MONO_FCGI_LOGLEVELS" => "Standard",
                       "MONO_FCGI_LOGFILE" => mono_shared_dir + "fastcgi.log",
                       "MONO_FCGI_ROOT" => mono_fcgi_root,
                       "MONO_FCGI_APPLICATIONS" => mono_fcgi_applications
               ),
               "max-procs" => 1,
  "check-local" => "disable"
 ))
)

fastcgi.map-extensions = (
       ".asmx"   => ".aspx",
       ".ashx"   => ".aspx",
       ".asax"   => ".aspx",
       ".ascx"   => ".aspx",
       ".soap"   => ".aspx",
       ".rem"    => ".aspx",
       ".axd"    => ".aspx",
       ".cs"     => ".aspx",
       ".config" => ".aspx",
       ".dll"    => ".aspx"
)

Appendix: links and more

lighttpd homepage.

• Sources download page

The mono project site:

• Some basic troubleshooting tips
• FastCGI information from the Mono project.
• Linker issues? Take a look at this.
• Interfacing FastCGI and lighttpd (with some advanced topics covered) - I heavily relied on this document; it might be a good place to go if you're also interested in PHP support
  

Google code information on the install (I found this very helpful, as it was simpler than the mono documentation).

Breasts should be mundane

Reports The New York Daily News

Asbury Park will remain G-rated.

Deciding the seaside community popularized in song by Bruce Springsteen needed no more exposure, the City Council said no to topless sunbathing on the Eighth St. stretch of sand Wednesday without a vote.

...

Supporters said a topless beach would revitalize tourism.

But others worried it would scare away families recently returning to the once-famous resort.

Really, why would anyone want prudish families around?

Conservatism and legitimization: the only thing worse than authoritarians…

…are authoritarians who don't play by the rules they pretend they say everyone else should play by. If there is one blessing (or curse, depending on one's point of view) of the Bush Era it was that many of the right-wing elements in the west that concealed their fascist-like contempt for basic human dignity suddenly publicly embraced it. In the United States, this was seen in the form of political legitimization of torture, a shameless mainstream media blitz of right-wing propaganda, stolen elections, perverse legal backbending quasi-legitimized by the Supreme Court appointments of a president who himself possibly only achieved his office because of a Supreme Court decision, militarism, and demonization and intimidation of people who refused to buy into the junta.

Naturally, where G20 meetings happen, protests follow. And where protests happen, authoritarians crawl out of the woodwork to reaffirm their commitment to a police state. Witness former Canadian Conservative MP Monte Solberg:

During the summit, commentators took great pains to distinguish legitimate protesters from the anarchists who were bent on violence.

I’m afraid I can’t be quite so generous, for sometimes the two blended together.

The op-ed reads a lot like a screed from Fox News:

I deeply appreciate the police. They didn’t initiate this, the protesters did. I’d be happy if the worst vandals amongst the protesters had to spend many weeks in jail.

I hope they get sued for the damage they’ve done and have to sell their entire Michael Moore DVD collections and their victim-affirming Noam Chomsky libraries.

This is the power of mass media. The kind of authoritarian rhetoric found on CNN, Fox News, and right-wing tabloids, is now deeply ingrained in so-called conservative movement of an ostensible "progressive" country. Politically, Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore probably couldn't be more at odds, but in the minds of members of the 21st century authoritarian junta, they're the same thing.

"For the past 90 years or so, the Republican Party has, at its best, come to embody the cause of personal freedom and economic dynamism. For a similar period, the Democratic Party has, at its best, come to embody the cause of fairness and family security." — David Brooks, New York Times columnist ("The Democrats Rejoice," 2010)

Politics today is about framing, and anti-authoritarians are bad at it. This needs to change. First off: stop using the terms authoritarians choose to describe themselves. They are not conservative, traditionalist, freedom fighters, or pro-life. They are authoritarians. Glenn Beck is an authoritarian. Monte Solberg is an authoritarian. Sean Hannity is an authoritarian. The United States Republikan Party is authoritarian, and so are its equivalents in other countries.

Conservatism is, ironically, perhaps a newer political tradition than modernity-affirming liberalism, and perhaps even more counterintuitively for the American mindset, it's probably closer to dead. Although I generally regard it as rather authoritarian itself, conservatism does tend to have some merits and even some occasional moments of clarity. The people above do not. They couch themselves in a term that refers to reaffirming tradition, ties to the community, and careful social consideration before making change. The conservatism of Edmund Burke is mostly dead, and where it lives on it has refused to acknowledge the problem of the considerably more right-wing authoritarianism stealing its mantle. Even relatively moderate conservatives like David Brooks have generally refused to acknowledge this, preferring instead to play a bipartisan balancing game between the two major parties.

WASP Adam

Meet WASP Adam and his wife, uh, Jane. You are descended from these two cracker asses. Not included on the cover of this book is their second child - the editor chose not include him on the cover because he turned out to be VERY BAD NEWS. Not to spoil the story for you, but he was a brunet to indicate how evil he was.

This thing was ...full of pictures that almost could have passed as Third Reich propaganda. I would have purchased it, but I didn't deem it worth the $1.99 price tag they were demanding. (Why put a price on my salvation anyway? Very Christian!)

Towards the end, we meet WASP Jesus, but He's been depicted elsewhere so many times I didn't bother to photograph Him.

Driving without drinking

So, sometimes, The New York Times actually posts something a little dead-on, like this letter from January 1st, 2008:

To the Editor:

In “Let’s Raise a Glass to Fairness” (Economic Scene, Dec. 26), David Leonhardt suggests that the argument for raising the federal tax on wine, unchanged at $1.07 a gallon since the early 1990s, is stronger than the argument for raising the tobacco tax. He points out all the ills associated with drinking abuse, including the some 17,000 Americans who die annually in alcohol-related traffic accidents.

It would seem that a far more appropriate tax to increase would be the federal gas tax, unchanged since 1993, at 18.4 cents a gallon.

Raising that tax would reflect all of the more than 42,000 traffic-related deaths each year, whether the result of drinking, fatigue, negligence or other causes. Irvin Dawid

Palo Alto, Calif., Dec. 26, 2007

In all fairness, Leonhardt makes something of a fair point. Alcohol probably does have a lot of social consequences. But those consequences, and their costs, are probably best dealt with locally, rather than through crushing federal taxes that go to nothing in particular. The same goes for other vices, like addiction to sugary meals such Captain Crunch.

Driving, on the other hand, wreaks global havoc. It is also expensive, and communities pay many confiscatory taxes to support its costs.

Want to reduce some of those costs? Make the drinking age 16 and the driving age 21.

Real anti-authoritarians take on Glenn Beck

A rather amusing letter appeared on counterpunch concerning Glenn Beck's mentally ill rants. Apparently he (mis)used one of their books as a prop.

Religion: CNN accidentally posts something thoughtful

Today many U.S. Catholics and Jews think like Protestants. They believe that religion is something we choose as individuals rather than inherit as communities, and they view it primarily in terms of faith rather than practice. None of this comes from either the Catholic brain of Aquinas or the Jewish mind of Maimonedes. The progenitor of this faith-based understanding of religion (who also happens to be the patron saint of religion rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court) is the American Protestant thinker William James, who famously defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.”

— Do 6 Catholics + 3 Jews = 9 Protestants? by CNN religious sophist Stephen Prothero