The first episode was published last week, and we’ll be releasing new ones every other week. Find us at starkravingsane.net, on Twitter @srscast, and on iTunes.

It’s probably that your VM, having been suspended while your host OS was sleeping, has lost track of what time it is. You could /etc/init.d/networking restart every time you start work in the morning, but that’s a drag, and you’re likely to forget.

Instead, you want to use the NTP daemon to keep your clock in sync. By default, however, NTP will attempt to gradually and incrementally bring your clock back into sync, and will balk at large differences in time (like the 14 hours since you last opened your laptop). Fortunately, there’s a config setting for that.

Let’s do this thing:

sudo apt-get install ntp

Then replace your /etc/ntp.conf file with the following:

tinker panic 0

restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict default kod nomodify notrap

server 0.au.pool.ntp.org
server 1.au.pool.ntp.org
server 2.au.pool.ntp.org
server 3.au.pool.ntp.org

driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift

Replace those server lines with NTP servers of your choosing.

The important line there is tinker panic 0, which is what tells NTP not to freak out if the difference in time between the local clock and the server is larger than it would normally be comfortable with. This line needs to come before all other config directives.

With that config in place, fire off a quick

sudo /etc/init.d/ntp restart

and you’re in business. Next time you bring your VM back up from a deep slumber, hit date and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

They alone, therefore, of all the citizens are forbidden to touch or handle silver or gold; they must not come under the same roof as them, nor wear them as ornaments, nor drink from vessels made of them. Upon this their safety and that of the state depends. If they acquire private property in land, houses, or money, they will become farmers and men of business instead of Guardians, and harsh tyrants instead of partners in their dealings with their fellow citizens, with whom they will live on terms of mutual hatred and suspicion; they will be more afraid of internal revolt than external attack, and be heading fast for destruction that will overwhelm the whole community.
Plato, The Republic

There’s a huge wave of great Arab hip-hop coming out at the moment, and these two guys are definitely fantastic examples. Both strong lyricists with impressive flow, Omar’s acappella was particularly jaw-dropping. Check out these videos to get a taste, then go out and buy their records:

As a bonus, here’s another amazing artist in this space, Shadia Mansour (featuring M1 from Dead Prez):

I’ve been digging responsive web design in a big way lately, and I also can’t be bothered spending more than 20 minutes in a stretch writing CSS, so I opted to purchase this most excellent theme. It’s GPL-licensed, which is really nice, and it’s also gorgeously responsive.

Maybe this will inspire me to post more often. But probably it won’t.

Full of gems like:

This paragraph elaborates on the claim, adding weasel-words like “the scientists say” to shift responsibility for establishing the likely truth or accuracy of the research findings on to absolutely anybody else but me, the journalist.