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And who protects us from sendmail?

Teufelsgrinsen

At heise online news there is the original article.

End of single-use packaging?

And the farce of the economy continues. It's already audacious how the economy interprets the letter from Brussels - I can already see a clear difference between "wants to stop the deposit system" and "cannot advance the introduction", as it allegedly states in the letter according to WDR. But the economy has been blocking the whole thing for years anyway. They really took the cake when they complained before the introduction of the first stage that everything had come too quickly - and all those years before they simply ignored the topic.

Addendum: what's also remarkable is how the press handles it. While WDR and Tagesschau still point to the true content - namely that there is absolutely no contradiction from the EU Commission (or even a rebuke) - this essential detail is simply ignored in Pro7 news, for example.

At WDR.de there's the original article.

German Bureaucracy Is Not Moving

In my opinion, it is an absolute outrage that precisely given the financial situation of the federal government and the states, the bureaucracy does not disclose its data. There is constant talk of costs when something is taken away from citizens, but citizens are denied access to the corresponding areas - how are we supposed to accept that if we cannot verify it? The way this is currently being handled is highly unbelievable and of course provokes every form of suspicion of corruption.

When will we finally learn that transparency in communication is the only right strategy in the long run?

At Der Rollberg there is the original article.

Network Censor Büssow Resigns Against Critics

Translation

The entire behavior of the district government in the dispute over the blocking orders is increasingly becoming a farce. I still hope that somewhere, someone will simply sue the entire district government and force them to finally conduct the whole matter openly. But I fear that such excesses have by now become rather the norm - competent politicians and political officials seem to no longer exist.

One thing is clear in any case: this massive defensive stance of the district government smells suspiciously like there is actually something to hide there - because otherwise the whole discussion could have easily been defused by the publication that was already promised.

So the only question that remains is whether politicians and bureaucrats simply want to conceal their stupidity, or whether there is actually more behind it.

At das Netzbuch - ralles Weblog you can find the original article.

Are you old? Are you poor? You can die ...

... so at least that's how it reads, what experts are thinking about. That's perverse: because you're too old, nothing more is done to save your life. Unless you have enough money, then you can buy your life. Otherwise just die. How such moronic proposals are supposed to motivate anyone to support the social system is something these idiots can surely explain to me now. Does anyone still know that science fiction film in which all people from a certain age somewhere in their 30s are killed (in the film it's called renewal)? Sometimes you get the feeling that such utopias will soon no longer be science fiction but documentary drama...

Note: But it becomes particularly perverse when a theologian and advisor to the German bishops' conference strikes the same note. At Zickenterror I found the original article.

Dynamically Scoped Variables

I had exactly this problem in the Python Desktop Server as well. So I wrote PyDS.Context for it. There flet is defined and activated as a new builtin. Using flet you can create a dynamic context:

 > > > try: > > > _flet.begin(variable="wert") > > > ... > > > finally: _flet.end()

Not the most elegant version, but at least usable. However, I would prefer it if Python had real fluid lets like in Scheme.

At PragDave there's the original article.

This is just cool - ST-80in VW 7

That's really cool. A Smalltalk-80 running under an emulator for a Xerox Alto written in Smalltalk (Visual Works 7). Wow. The Dolphin mentioned in the article is one of Xerox's D-machines. I have two compatible systems sitting around here. Unfortunately, I never received the Smalltalk diskettes with the microcode and the image, but so far I've only had the Lyric and the Koto Lisp. Lyric is a nice Common Lisp environment, but Koto is really great: a pure Interlisp-D environment (ok, it's also included in Lyric and in the later Medley Common Lisp, but in Koto it's all pure Interlisp-D!).

I found the Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants and the original article there.

Lead on the Shelves

Sure, they stand behind this concept just as much as they do behind all the other handheld and portable concepts they've botched and buried so far

Devilish grin

(I still have a version of Pen-Windows 3.x at home on my Dauphin DTR-1)

At Spiegel Online: Netzwelt you can find the original article.

The Open Content License becomes European

Sounds quite interesting, perhaps this could be an alternative to the Creative Commons license that has been the subject of quite a bit of discussion lately. I've also removed it from my sites where it was used, because of the liability clause.

At heise online news there is the original article.

The Monty Hall Problem

Because I kept searching for it again and couldn't remember what it was called, here's a note link. For everyone who thinks they always intuitively assess their chances correctly, this might be an eye-opener.

Here you can find the original article.

A Muzzle for SCO

Good. At least putting verbal brakes on this nonsense is a start.

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Correct lens distortion

Another plugin. I haven't tried it yet and therefore don't know whether it works well or not. The principle sounds very useful though - and it might even make sense for the digital cameras. My other cameras don't have any problem with lens distortion

Here's the original article.

Photokit - analog image effects for Photoshop

A new addition to my Photoshop plugin collection is the linked Photokit.

First, a drawback: the operation is somewhat awkward, as it doesn't integrate itself as a menu in the Filters menu where you would expect it. Instead, it's an automation plugin that you select, after which a small dialog box appears where you choose the effect group and the effect. Only then is this applied. However, the advantages outweigh this: all effects are placed in their own layer. The big advantage of this: they can all be combined well with the image via the transparency setting of the new layer and their strength can be influenced. Another advantage is the strict orientation of the effects toward photographic terms - albeit English terms. If you have problems with that, you might find help in the dictionary from http://contax-users.de/. Also nice about Photokit are the really good sharpening filters - luminance sharpening avoids color artifacts and the high-pass filter offers good variation of the effect through layer transparency. And last but not least: each effect is only one step in the Photoshop history - this makes the history clear and through multiple steps the effects can be well combined into your own more complex actions. Further tests were conducted at Digital Outback and at Luminous Landscape. The price of 49 US dollars is certainly not exactly small, but the tool saves a lot of work and since time is often short even in hobbies, and tedious standard tasks can be handled well by computers, it's a worthwhile addition. Here's the original article.

Siggy Pop

So we have a politician here who often stands out through intelligent comments and arguments against political opponents and by frequently demonstrating—for a politician—a pronounced sense of reality. What do we do with him? We make him pop commissioner. Is this supposed to ensure that he is never taken seriously again, because he contradicted the great Gerhard?

Devil's grin

At tagesschau im Internet there is the original article.

Overview of the History of Linhof Technika

Because Jutta now owns a Linhof Standard Press (basically a Linhof Technika III with limited front standard adjustments), I searched the web for Linhof information. The title links to what I consider the most comprehensive overview. Unfortunately, there isn't much information online about the special models. But the camera is beautiful - everything is mechanically robust, well-crafted, and in good condition even after 50 years. And the Polaroid 545 cassette fits behind the ground glass - now we just need 55 Polaroid film.

Here's the original article.

US Regulatory Authority Under Suspicion of Corruption

Well, the old question: who regulates the regulators. Well, our trust was more like "trust-foolish" than acting as a trustee. And that's still the polite assessment.

Devilish grin

At heise online news there's the original article.

20 years of Smalltalk-80

Smalltalk 80 is celebrating its 20th birthday. Let me congratulate it and have a quick laugh at Java's expense

At Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants you can find the original article.

Polaroid 195 is being reissued

The Polaroid 195 is being re-released by NPC, but with an improved back: this time it's based on Polaroid's standard back for packfilm. Excellent - a revised and high-quality packfilm camera, with all the adjustment options you could wish for. And with a contemporary back. I'm in love.

Here's the original article.

The Rungholt Project

Great, I didn't know there was a website for that either. Nice collection of links and data. Of course, nice material for an old Schleswig-Holstein fan like me. And Jutta will surely be interested in it too.

I found the original article at Der Schockwellenreiter.

Wolfowitz drops his mask

Things are really getting embarrassingly ridiculous at this point. But here too, someone like Blair won't understand that his pro-Bush stance is just making him look ridiculous.

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

Rumors about Digiback for Leica R8 or 9 again

Translation

The rumors about a digital back for the Leica R8/9 are heating up again. This time with various people who normally know quite precisely what's going on. It's going to be exciting. 7500 USD (or EUR?) and then a 1.3x factor and 10 megapixels aren't exactly groundbreaking, but certainly interesting. Not that I necessarily want to have an R system in addition, but the combination of a – admittedly high-quality – manual body with a good digital back would really just be amazingly cool.

New iTunes prevents music sharing over the internet

So so. So performance improvement is nothing more than the castration of music sharing. Well, that's all the same to me, since I couldn't use it anyway (firewall) nor wanted to (security), but somehow I find that Apple shouldn't take its users for fools. They should rather leave that to Microsoft ... At heise online news there's the original article.

Novell claims its own Unix rights in Linux dispute

So let's summarize this one more time:

SCO claims to have all rights to Unix

SCO claims that Linux contains infringements of rights

SCO itself actively marketed a Linux until recently, even after its own lawsuit against IBM

SCO still provides support for its own Linux today with download options for current kernel versions for its distribution

SCO doesn't even have all rights, since some of the rights are held by Novell

SCO has to this day failed to provide proof of where exactly these rights violations are

Have I forgotten any essential part of this farce, or is that already all of SCO's nonsense bundled together?

You can find the original article at heise online news here.

USA renew accusations against Iran

And work continues diligently on the next enemy image, so that no one notices how desolate conditions are in one's own country and what share the Bush administration bears in it.

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

If You''re Good at Nothing, Become an Advertiser

This is something that bothers me more and more about students and university education: why does everyone believe it must be aligned with the demands of the economy? Do we really have to subordinate knowledge and scientific discourse to monetary interests? Is scientific work and education—which is supposed to be the purpose of universities—really worth so little?

I believe that university education should remain free from the constraints that the economy wants to impose on everything. Because if that happens, we'll quickly disappear from the top of the world stage.

Economic interests are short-term, science is long-term. Please continue to invest in the long-term; in the end, we all benefit far more from it than from short-term profits that go straight into the pockets of shareholders and investors anyway.

And to the students: yes, future work is important. Of course, especially in today's situation, you have to plan ahead for what you want to do professionally. But your studies should still be driven more by enthusiasm for a subject than by the question of whether it makes economic sense. Anything else would be a real shame. We already have far too many business administration students...

At Ligne Claire you can find the original article.

GMX landed on open relay blacklist

GMX's conclusion—namely to warn against using blacklists—is pretty stupid. The correct approach would simply be to close the hole, and then there would be no problems with blacklists. And ORDB isn't really problematic—you can start your own test anew and if it goes well, you get removed from the lists. And for anything more complex, there's a contact form.

In any case, there was a concrete reason why GMX ended up in this situation—using sender addresses as the sole qualification criterion for permissions is nonsense, since they can be forged arbitrarily.

At heise online news there's the original article.

Microsoft demands new tender in Munich [Update]

Ridiculous. The competition is said to be suspended - where exactly is the serious competition if you come with fake bids? The doubts about such a last-minute offer are entirely justified - either they're paying extra, then it's not a legitimate bid, but price dumping. Or they're making money from it - why was the other bid so much higher then? If you can suddenly save 7 million in a bid without it causing major pain, then something is definitely wrong, one way or another.

At heise online news there's the original article.

Oh God! (3)

Wow, Merkel really doesn't get it anymore, does she?

Devil's grin

The reference to God in the Basic Law and in the oath formulas for civil servants is already absurd - what about a civil servant who doesn't believe in God? God won't help him, so what's the point of having "so help me God" in the formula? But to demand that for the EU as well - completely ridiculous. Europe should enshrine its Christian ties, but without disadvantaging other religions in any way - how is that supposed to work? Even now, other religious communities are disadvantaged, or does any religion besides Catholics and Protestants have state-backed tax collection? The state should stay out of the religion issue, period. By the way, there's a nice collection of links around the topic of political atheism at gottloses Ketzer. I found the original article at MEHRZWECKBEUTEL.

A land without consequences

The Americans may possibly have plans in their desk drawers to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp with its own death row and execution chamber. That is, to judge and execute the prisoners right there without ever bringing them onto American soil - and without any possibility of adequate defense or even minimal public transparency about the proceedings. Perverse.

I found the original article at Warblogs:CC.

LinuxTag warns SCO

Translation

Of course - SCO wants to present the evidence first in the US proceedings against IBM, but is already brazenly claiming beforehand that Linux violates their property rights and that Linux users could potentially be breaking the law. Ridiculous. Not just the accusation, but also the approach: since they only want to present evidence in court, they make unproven claims beforehand. As if that's no big deal, spreading a little FUD isn't harmful, right? I hope that the courts in Germany won't participate in this circus and demand clear evidence from SCO, or at least ban these silly accusations.

At heise online news there's the original article.

Billion-euro demand on the railway

Maybe Mehdorn will be removed now - after all, the whole thing happened under his leadership. That would certainly be a reason if 1.8 billion in losses are incurred, which apparently only result from incorrect billings to the federal government...

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Munich City Hall SPD Decides on Linux

Wow. I'm amazed. Signs of intelligence. And from Munich of all places. Where do you find such a thing!

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Steinbrück: Continuation of coalition open

Steinbrück lacks grounding. Without the Greens, he won't be able to hold the state and will lose it to the Union. And that would be extremely fatal - even if the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia is pretty much a mess and ossified, a Union government would cause even more damage. I don't understand why he wants to risk that just to show the small coalition partner who's boss. Especially since the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia are really not particularly stressful for the SPD...

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

Scientists Find Animal Link for SARS Virus

Interesting. Could indicate a connection and an origin for the virus. Cat-like creatures in China.

At New York Times: NYT HomePage there's the original article.

Bush attacks "Old Europe"

It's quite absurd when a self-confessed creationist accuses Europe of unscientific fear

Teufelsgrinsen

At Der Rollberg you can find the original article.

Own Goal by SCO

Well, SCO's action really doesn't seem particularly intelligent. It looks like the legal department didn't talk enough with the rest of the company. Maybe in the end SCO will have to sue itself and go bankrupt in the process?

Devilish grin

At heise online news there's the original article.

SAP relies on MySQL

Well. So far SAPDB was quite an interesting database alternative (ok, I like PostgreSQL much better, but whatever). But if the MySQL people start tinkering with it, that can only get worse. I wonder if they'll remove outer joins from SAPDB's SQL? And throw out transactions? Because nobody needs that anyway, as they used to argue back in the day

Devilish grin

At heise online news there's the original article.

spam filter from heck

Cool. Trend Micro informs its customers that an update to a spam filter had a bug and incorrectly flagged all messages containing the letter P as spam. And then they wonder why they received so few complaints about the problem.

At Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants there is the original article.

Ullrich will start at Tour

Well then, let's go.

At WDR.de I found the original article.

Bruce Perens on SCO v. Linux

Interesting response from Bruce Perens to the SCO attacks against Linux. In my opinion, it provides a good assessment.

I found the original article at d2r.

CIA must sift through own Iraq reports

So if they don't find anything now, that's going to be extremely embarrassing

Teufelsgrinsen

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

Eiffel releases beta of EiffelStudio for OS X

OK, the development environment is interesting and the implementation sounds good. Eiffel is a nice language (somewhat quite verbose, but in return also considerably more readable than, e.g., C++). And through the integrated tools, such an environment naturally offers more than just a bare compiler - CASE tools etc. are included.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, the price of 4800 US dollars is rather an argument against buying it. Sorry folks, but for that price I can get a fully equipped license for Allegro Common Lisp, and it offers considerably better comfort and considerably nicer language features and expressiveness than EiffelStudio.

And I find the price for Allegro Common Lisp already considerably too expensive...

At The Macintosh News Network there's the original article.

Cologne on the Brink

Just on the monitor: the savings plans of the city of Cologne. Short version: everything that has any value at all is being stopped, cut, capped or canceled. That women's shelters, drug assistance programs, cultural scene, libraries, schools, public parks, streets and who knows what else are falling by the wayside is apparently not so important. To match this, it was also decided not to expand the corruption prevention department. Fits right in with the garbage clique.

Chimpanzees Are Only Human Too

So the genetic proximity of chimpanzees to us is certainly no reason to insult them in such a way ...

Teufelsgrinsen

At Spiegel Online: Science there's the original article.

Breaking a taboo for one's own security

Well, and here we go again into the arms spiral. Of course, some other states will now take up idiotic nuclear weapons programs again, citing the USA as justification. And we once believed that disarmament negotiations would put an end to this madness.

You can find the original article at tagesschau im Internet here.