I seldom try an Alpha release of Kubuntu, and if I did, I would load it on my trusty "for testing only" old ThinkPad. But, I managed to screw up KDE on my ASUS "I usually use it on the road" laptop. Maybe it was time.

It is midnight. You are browsing the web. Everything seems fine. Unbeknownst to you, a rogue advertisement composed of malware is displayed on a popular website and is attempting to steal your banking credentials. What can you do?

For those of you familiar with twitter, the "microblogging" social-networking tool, you know that it can be a fun way to gather data from a large group of people. If you have a substantial enough group of followers, inevitably, a few are paying attention most of the time, and you will get a handful of interesting responses to almost any question.

Anyone that uses Linux regularly is familiar with the "Google to see if it works under Linux" procedure before buying any hardware. I was thrilled when I saw the ad for a USB Atari 2600 joystick clone that had a label on the box claiming its Linux compatibility.

This week on Linux Journal Live!, Kyle Rankin and I are talking about all the horrifying mistakes we've made as sysadmins. It may be a two part show. :)

Anyway, we were thinking about what sort of contest we should have, and figured maybe we could solicit your horrible stories from the field. So here's the deal:

Time's running out to get your hands on this cute little green dude that runs gOS Linux.

Remember when I reviewed Crossover Games (cxgames) back in April? If you have been pining for your very own license ever since -- today is your lucky day.

Join editor Shawn Powers and Linux Journal author (and long time KDE contributor) Jes Hall this Thursday evening, Oct 23 at 7:30pm Central, when they discuss mini notebooks and which one you should buy. Remember to bring your questions and ask them in the chat room on the side of the video -- Shawn and Jes will interact with the audience throughout the show. See you there!

Microsoft is now spending $300 million to counter Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads. Does Linux need its own ad campaign?

On tonight's Linux Journal Live, Shawn Powers and columnist Kyle Rankin are talking Linux in the home, and will take your questions live. Want to learn about linux file servers, home entertainment solutions, or basement server rooms? Tune in at 7:30 Central tonight, October 16th. www.linuxjournal.com/live

The time of beginning is one of the most precious times of all. It can be very exciting and full of wonderful growth. The first thing to do is to make up your mind that you are going to go the distance.

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But commitment needs something else in order to be perpetuated. It needs discipline.

The University of Notre Dame heats a botanical garden with waste server heat. We're looking for more creative ideas from you on recycling waste server heat.

As if you didn't have enough to worry about, with the stock market crashing and all your savings going south . . . U.S. CERT issued a warning about a new browser exploit called "clickjacking". Worst of all, it even affects Linux browsers. Yikes! Jeremiah Grossman, founder and CTO of WhiteHat Security, U.S. CERT said, "Clickjacking gives an attacker the ability to trick a user into clicking on something only barely or momentarily noticeable. Therefore, if a user clicks on a Web page, they may actually be clicking on content from another page."

Having recently installed a new version of Linux I thought I'd see how progress on Compiz, the compositing window manager, was going. I tried it first on a system with an ATI video card and was met with a wonderful blank screen. Since I really didn't want to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out what was going on I just put things back to normal and got X working again.