Here’s the script if anyone else wants to play (it also demonstrates how to post to twitter with wget, which may be handy for other automation projects):

#!/bin/sh
MB_POST="http://identi.ca/api/statuses/update.xml
  http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml"

MB_USER=state your username
MB_PASS=state your password

IZ="$(find Maildir/cur/ Maildir/new/ -type f | wc -l)"
if [ $IZ -gt 0 ]; then
  IZ="$IZ"
else
  IZ="ZERO"
fi
IZ="inbox zero status: $IZ"

for MB_HTTP in $MB_POST; do
  wget -qO- --delete-after 
    --user="$MB_USER" --password="$MB_PASS" 
    --post-data "status=$IZ" $MB_HTTP > /dev/null
done

Update: Fixed script to use any Twitter-style microblog API, and included example URL from identi.ca. Go freedom!

Update: Even better, just post to all of them at once! Also fixed anchor… Despite switching to the visual editor weeks ago, I’m still not 100% used to the convenience of it.

I have selected four examples of these sorts of events from today. There were many more, of course, but here are four:

1. Pia goes to hospital, thankfully returning this evening. Still in pain, but better.
2. The caterers realise they’ve double-booked, and somehow manage to re-book us with their competitor on the day before our (thus far 70 person) event.
3. Standards Australia announce their OOXML decision, prompting discussion, phone calls from journalists, etc.
4. The batteries in my keyboard and mouse die at exactly the same time. During the Microsoft Technology Summit last year, like Luis, I bought one of the only things worth buying at the Redmond campus employee shop: A Microsoft keyboard (and mouse).

Today, we push pixels. Tomorrow, we move mountains!

Photo courtesy SMH. Click the image for more.

I am totally comfortable admitting my flaws and mistakes. I have made plenty. There are some issues raised in Murray’s post that have been noted before and that I’ve accepted. I will seek to resolve these soon, because they are important to me and the project I love. Of course, resolving these issues did not require such hatefulness, but that is a property of the dysfunctional relationship on display.

Despite that relationship, I have great respect and appreciation for Murray’s contributions to GNOME, and have tried to reach out an olive branch to him on numerous occasions. It has never been received kindly. I thought that after the issues we faced earlier this year, we could settle into a quiet detente, and not bother each other. But the armistice was broken, and it was not to be.

It is clear that neither of us are in a position to productively work together.

I am unlikely to make any further comment on Murray’s attacks. I just don’t think there’s a positive resolution to aim for here.

Thanks to those who have voiced support, it means a lot to me.

Retractions?

Some folks have suggested that Murray should retract his comments. He shouldn’t. That is what he feels, that is how he chose to express it, and he is old enough to be accountable and responsible for his freedom of expression. It’s his blog. They’re his words. I created Planet GNOME as a public arena, for the community to share, and this is an entirely valid expression for it. Voltaire would be rolling in his grave!

Mental Health

Meanwhile, I don’t want to bring on the violins or anything, but I’ve written earlier in the year about my depression. Although it’s impossible to pin down any one thing that leads to an episode, contributing factors can be identified.

Sadly, in this case, Murray’s attacks on me around that time were a contributing factor to my mental stress and state of mind, and had an impact on my work in GNOME, not to mention my relationships, business, etc.

I raise this because there is a very important point to be made: Despite ongoing stigma in some communities, depression is not at all like “psychosis”. This is a very nasty association. As a school counsellor once told me, “it’s not bad, it’s just sad”. Cutesy, but you get the idea.

So if you’re reading this, and you are feeling ongoing sadness, despair, a lack motivation or satisfaction in your everyday life, ignore any stigma and please see someone about it.

I’ve been going through a very rough patch over the last few weeks — thanks again to Pia, who weathers through my storms and sleet — and I need to do the same thing, probably more so after this.

It’s the only way to help yourself, and the saddest things happen when people don’t get help.

Finally

Read the post, make up your own mind, and vote accordingly.

(Oh, and happy Movember!)

… updated her profile. She is now looking for friendship and networking.

… went from being “single” to “in a relationship”.

If I hadn’t already known offline, let alone been waiting for it to blossom in excruciating pain for months, this would have been one of those “$TECHNOLOGY is changing the way we view the world” posts.

Instead, here is a picture of Pia:

No tarballs, no compiling kernel modules, no banging rocks together.

It’s as easy as: sudo apt-get install vmware-player

I SHIT YOU NOT.

(That ought to get the kiddie-filters going.)

Update: This appears to be a very popular post, so if you’re looking for more information about VMware of any variety on Ubuntu, make sure you check out the Ubuntu community’s VMware documentation page. Have fun!