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friarlawless
March 23rd, 2018, 05:34 PM
Today I came across a very strange website when I did a web search for "Ubuntu store." I meant to find a link to the Canonical Store (to get a new mug for work...but I digress) and I ended up on a page called "Ubuntu Shop USA," run by one Michael Tellinger. Most of it was pretty benign - shirts and baseball caps with a logo I didn't recognize that talked about "Ubuntu" and a "global movement" as well as vague references to "true freedom." It even had verbiage in a few places to buy things and "Support Ubuntu."

Then I got to the books section, and things went off the rails quickly. Michael Tellinger is an author of some...controversial pseudo-scientific books that sound like something off of Ancient Aliens (which unsurprisingly, has featured some of his work). They include things like ancient astronauts, "energized" water and the idea that humans were originally brought to earth as a slave species by...wait for it...aliens.

I'd have just laughed this off except that this fellow being from South Africa and prominently using the terms "Ubuntu" and "freedom" to sell things might confuse otherwise well-meaning free software advocates to spend money there. Has anyone else seen this site before, and is Canonical aware of it?

QIII
March 23rd, 2018, 06:21 PM
That site seems to be trading on the philosophy of ubuntu (albeit a somewhat twisted version) and not the OS "Ubuntu" developed by Canonical. On a cursory look, I don't see anything that might infringe on Canonical trademarks, copyrights, property rights or intellectual property rights.

again?
March 23rd, 2018, 06:30 PM
Doesn't seem odd for a South African to use a South African word and when that word is associated with an ideology you might
expect to come across the word "freedom".
Shuttleworth didn't invent the word "ubuntu".

From "The Official Ubuntu Book: Introducing Ubuntu"...

What Does Ubuntu Mean?
At this point, the Warthogs had a great team, a set of goals, and a decent idea of how to achieve most of them. The team did not, on the other hand, have a name for their project. Shuttleworth argued strongly that they should call the project "Ubuntu."

Ubuntu is a concept and a term from several South African languages, including Zulu and Xhosa. It refers to a South African ideology or ethic that, while difficult to express in English, might roughly be translated as "humanity toward others," or "I am because we are." Others have described ubuntu as "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity." The famous South African human rights champion Archbishop Desmond Tutu explained ubuntu in this way:

A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

Ubuntu played an important role as a founding principle in post-apartheid South Africa and remains a concept familiar to most South Africans today.

Shuttleworth liked the term Ubuntu as a name for the new project for several reasons. First, it is a South African concept. While the majority of the people who work on Ubuntu are not from South Africa, the roots of the project are, and Shuttleworth wanted to choose a name that represented this. Second, the project emphasizes the definition of individuality in terms of relationships with others and provides a profound type of community and sharing—exactly the attitudes of sharing, community, and collaboration that are at the core of free software. The term represented the side of free software that the team wanted to share with the world. Third, the idea of personal relationships built on mutual respect and connections describes the fundamental ground rules for the highly functional community that the Ubuntu team wanted to build. Ubuntu was a term that encapsulated where the project came from, where the project was going, and how the project planned to get there. The name was perfect. It stuck.

From wikipedia...

Micheal Tellinegr graduated in 1983 from the University Of Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, with a B.Pharmaceutics degree.
I think he may have dabbled too much in the pharmaceuticals as a younger man. :-)

friarlawless
March 23rd, 2018, 06:38 PM
I'm aware it's not a Canonical-specific term. I just personally find it unfortunate that my OS of choice shares a Google search with pseudoscience. Oh well. Guy must have done a little too much LDS. :P

again?
March 23rd, 2018, 06:41 PM
I'm aware it's not a Canonical-specific term. I just personally find it unfortunate that my OS of choice shares a Google search with pseudoscience. Oh well. Guy must have done a little too much LDS. :P
Is that a hallucinogenic drug for dyslexics? :p

friarlawless
March 23rd, 2018, 06:46 PM
Is that a hallucinogenic drug for dyslexics? :p

And Vulcans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc).

oldos2er
March 23rd, 2018, 06:48 PM
I'm pretty sure LDS is a Star Trek reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc

EditL ninja'ed

lisati
March 23rd, 2018, 06:53 PM
Is that a hallucinogenic drug for dyslexics? :p


And Vulcans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc).


I'm pretty sure LDS is a Star Trek reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc


:lolflag:

again?
March 23rd, 2018, 07:00 PM
And Vulcans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc).
Yeah, those Latter Day Saints can really mess with your head. 8-[

Is that a stuff up by Shatner or does it mean something in the star trek world?

friarlawless
March 23rd, 2018, 07:16 PM
Yeah, those Latter Day Saints can really mess with your head. 8-[

Is that a stuff up by Shatner or does it mean something in the star trek world?

I think it was just a joke on how out of touch the character of Kirk was with his (then ancient) history. Any resemblance to an actual present-day church that messes with one's head is purely coincidental. I think. Maybe. ...Probably.

grahammechanical
March 23rd, 2018, 08:41 PM
I once brought Ubuntu and when I pulled the tab this brown fizzy liquid burst all over my clothes. That is what you get if you shake a can of Ubuntu before opening it. :)

Regards.

lisati
March 23rd, 2018, 09:51 PM
I once searched Youtube and discovered a video (https://youtu.be/j7iOKZe9oN8) of Nelson Mandela talking about it.