This year has been tumultuous so far. Combine equal parts cabin +fever, poor mental health, and escapism, and you get a person who +has difficulties putting words into a creative composition. Instead +of posting a success story later about how I have overcome my +obstacles in life, I felt it was equally important to document my +lower moments as well. This post would be a feeble attempt to keep +this website alive.
Kudos to Proxmox and their team for the latest release of +Proxmox VE. The upgrade process was smooth and well documented. The +inclusion of the upgrade checks was amazing to say the least.
No longer a support engineer, I now have a regular work and +sleep routine. This routine frees me from the debilitating schedule +that once held me prisoner from social activities or engaging in +self-improvement. Ironically, this has only enabled my escapism +habits.
I spent several months grinding away Witcher 3 and its DLCs. +It's an amazing RPG for a game of its time. Between killing +monsters for coin and saving Ciri, there were plenty of side quests +to keep the player going. The only downside was how the devs +decided to handle the post-game content. What a shame. I also +dropped a few weeks into Rimworld and its expansive world of war +crimes and extensive modding. I ultimately stopped playing because +of the soul-crushing loss of a moderately successful colony. It was +fun making money by harvesting organs from prisoners and skinning +their bodies for leather. Mood debuffs begone.
During these days of gaming, I lost track of my work on myself. +The game sessions were fun, but not nourishing. Like tending liquor +to a wounded soul, this escapism does not heal, it only numbs it +for another day. I find nothing but more guilt at the bottom of the +metaphorical bottle.
As the Covid situation worsens in Malaysia, hope is bleak and no +end is in sight. Cases in our nation rise to record highs but its +people are furious. Furious to be held prisoner in their own homes +but not furious enough to discipline themselves for a safer future. +Citizens have never been more divided ; An increasing number of the +lesser minded are pushing for the release of the lockdowns; The +infected be damned, my momentary freedom worth their sacrifice, +until the time comes for my lungs to be on the chopping block. As +much as I'm privileged to be safe from the horrors of the pandemic, +cabin fever is catching up to me. I feel myself losing grip of my +identity and my flow of time. My moods grew from restlessness to +agitation, then to apathy. I can only hope for the better.
I shall stop here. Thanks for reading so far. For you dear +reader, stay strong and stay safe. Like the euphoric sight of your +first double rainbow or the arduous toils of your younger days, +times like these, too, shall pass.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must +be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, +bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. +The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. +How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could +drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on +the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people +who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing +the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the +smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. +Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the +rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people +from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let +the putrescence drip down into the earth. There is a crime here +that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping +cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our +success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy +trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die +because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must +fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food +must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish +for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come +in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is +sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, +listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered +with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a +putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the +failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In +the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing +heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.diff --git a/blog/test2.xml b/blog/test2.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7604020 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/test2.xml @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ + +
+- John Steinbeck
This year has been tumultuous so far. Combine equal parts cabin +fever, poor mental health, and escapism, and you get a person who +has difficulties putting words into a creative composition. Instead +of posting a success story later about how I have overcome my +obstacles in life, I felt it was equally important to document my +lower moments as well. This post would be a feeble attempt to keep +this website alive.
Kudos to Proxmox and their team for the latest release of +Proxmox VE. The upgrade process was smooth and well documented. The +inclusion of the upgrade checks was amazing to say the least.
No longer a support engineer, I now have a regular work and +sleep routine. This routine frees me from the debilitating schedule +that once held me prisoner from social activities or engaging in +self-improvement. Ironically, this has only enabled my escapism +habits.
I spent several months grinding away Witcher 3 and its DLCs. +It's an amazing RPG for a game of its time. Between killing +monsters for coin and saving Ciri, there were plenty of side quests +to keep the player going. The only downside was how the devs +decided to handle the post-game content. What a shame. I also +dropped a few weeks into Rimworld and its expansive world of war +crimes and extensive modding. I ultimately stopped playing because +of the soul-crushing loss of a moderately successful colony. It was +fun making money by harvesting organs from prisoners and skinning +their bodies for leather. Mood debuffs begone.
During these days of gaming, I lost track of my work on myself. +The game sessions were fun, but not nourishing. Like tending liquor +to a wounded soul, this escapism does not heal, it only numbs it +for another day. I find nothing but more guilt at the bottom of the +metaphorical bottle.
As the Covid situation worsens in Malaysia, hope is bleak and no +end is in sight. Cases in our nation rise to record highs but its +people are furious. Furious to be held prisoner in their own homes +but not furious enough to discipline themselves for a safer future. +Citizens have never been more divided ; An increasing number of the +lesser minded are pushing for the release of the lockdowns; The +infected be damned, my momentary freedom worth their sacrifice, +until the time comes for my lungs to be on the chopping block. As +much as I'm privileged to be safe from the horrors of the pandemic, +cabin fever is catching up to me. I feel myself losing grip of my +identity and my flow of time. My moods grew from restlessness to +agitation, then to apathy. I can only hope for the better.
I shall stop here. Thanks for reading so far. For you dear +reader, stay strong and stay safe. Like the euphoric sight of your +first double rainbow or the arduous toils of your younger days, +times like these, too, shall pass.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must +be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, +bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. +The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. +How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could +drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on +the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people +who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing +the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the +smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. +Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the +rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people +from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let +the putrescence drip down into the earth. There is a crime here +that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping +cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our +success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy +trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die +because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must +fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food +must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish +for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come +in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is +sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, +listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered +with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a +putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the +failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In +the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing +heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.+
+- John Steinbeck
The traditional CentOS Linux distribution as we know it is dead. +Here is another drop in the ocean of opinion pieces that follow the +news of its death. After cooling down from the initial rush of +blood to my head, here is my take on this event.
With the advent of DevOps and SRE, businesses and startups are +moving away from the old-school concept of traditional server +clusters to running their applications on disposable containers. +The trend is clear and true. Developers are increasingly less +reliant on a tried-and-true Linux distribution that lasts for a +decade. With containers, developers can develop, test, deploy, and +rollback with blazing fast velocity.
Without a doubt one of the most popular Linux distributions to +ever exist, CentOS was prevalent among all kinds of computing +systems ranging from simple database servers to billion-dollar +computer clusters. There are countless organizations have made the +business decision to keep using the traditional model, or +organizations that do not require microservices at all. With CentOS +drawn from below their feet, a lot of organizations will be forced +to migrate to another option, or fork out a pretty penny for RHEL. +Besides, on-prem deployment of any container orchestration tool +still requires a stable Linux distribution.
The second ripple effect it will have is towards the skilled +professionals who have spend decades on CentOS. Not every company +is willing to pay up for RHEL or risk using CentOS Stream. For +those who migrate to Debian or OpenSUSE, they will have to retrain +and adapt with different tools.
The most obvious of them all was, was it necessary for CentOS to +die? With CentOS Stream to track ahead of RHEL, it is still +possible for CentOS to remain functional and serve its purpose. +This is clearly a business decision to increase profits. It used to +be that developers wanted to write for RHEL but did not want pay +for it; CentOS filled that need. What also happened was that some +companies decided that they wanted the free experience all the way. +Red Hat now provides free use of the Red Hat Universal Base Image +for developers. With this, companies no longer have an excuse.
Secondly, why the PR disaster? In hindsight, there is no way to +deliver this news gently to the public. However, I felt that Red +Hat gave the bird to the open source community, especially those +who contributed to CentOS, by pulling the plug on Centos 8 towards +the end of 2021. There wasn't even a courtesy to end it later then +CentOS 7's EOL date, June 30th 2024. A raw-dogged "Pay up, now" to +everyone.
Last of all, what is the next move from Red Hat/IBM? With CentOS +gone, there is a huge vacuum for another to take its place. RHEL +sources are still available and can still be repackaged. While Red +Hat currently has massive influence over Linux in general, is this +a arrogant statement proclaiming "Hey, you can't live without me"? +Another ominuous take with conspiratorial undertones would be that +Red Hat plans to eventually scrap the FOSS model, but I would have +to wear my tin hat for this one.
Almost immediately after the release, all the attention is now +directed to towards filling the space that CentOS will leave +behind. Undoubtedly, Ubuntu and SUSE would try to assert their +presence with their open source alternatives. Debian, the largest +behemoth of them all, hopefully will receive funding and +participation like never before. A silver lining of this event +would perhaps be the buzzing excitement of what will be and can be. +It is time to be excited about Linux again. I, for one, have to +begin migrating my CentOS containers and virtual machines to +Debian.
CentOS's founder, Gregory Kurtzer, is working with the community +to establish Rocky Linux. Join them at +https://webchat.freenode.net/#rockylinux .
I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you +truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an +eggplant.]]> \ No newline at end of file
+- Ursula K. Le Guin