Weblog Hosting

Also http://muensterland.org/ is also completely official and costs nothing - at least with the numeric user ID instead of a fancy name.

At Der Schockwellenreiter I found the original article.

Greens: Ballot should cut through red tape

That would also be the last bit of individuality for the Greens gone. Great achievement, becoming a boring normal party in such a short time. Now they might as well dissolve themselves, because there's already an FDP

I found the original article at RP Online: Politik.

Politics with casualty figures?

Well, that's also something that always amazes me: people really seem to believe that a war ends with the last shot. Unfortunately, that's just not true - the direct consequences of the war in its aftermath are part of it, as is the destabilization of the country that lost. And the fact that critical situations currently prevail in Iraq and that it's anything but stable should really be clear to everyone...

At Hexentanz you can find the original article.

Spain wants to crack down heavily on anti-war protests

Could someone please throw Spain out of the EU? Such a restriction on the right to demonstrate, in my opinion, massively violates the Western understanding of society and democracy that the EU likes to invoke so often.

I found the original article on RP Online: Politik.

Children Taken from Couple Over Breast-Feeding Photo

American Hysteria: Children of a Peruvian Couple Were Taken Away and the Parents Subjected to Various Tests and Psychological Treatment After Photos Were Found Showing the Mother Breastfeeding One of Her Sons. The Proceedings for Child Pornography and Abuse Were Dismissed, but the Children Still Haven't Been Returned to Their Parents.

So much for the topic of freedom in the USA.

What did I expect from a country where in some states oral sex is still criminalized, even if it's a married couple in their own home – missionary position by law. Here is a list of where the sodomy laws in the USA are still active and where it's slowly changing.

I found the original article at lies.com.

Jan Ullrich wins around Cologne

Well, that's really a top performance. Excellent. And probably not expected in this form.

And Danilo Hondo grabbed second place, not bad either - even though Danilo's teammates could have put a bit more work into closing the gap to Jan Ullrich, especially since they were basically right at the sponsor's doorstep.

Jazz singer Nina Simone is dead

Too bad. :-(

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

The Gravenreuth Report

A Gravenreuth Report. Wow. Everything collected that is worth knowing about the Freiherr's lawyer. All his sins nicely listed and documented.

I found the original article at delta-c Weblog.

The Un-CD and the Positioning of the Economy

Very interesting interview. Given the position of the spokesperson for the phonogram associations (one can probably assume that in his function he represents the opinion of the member companies), you can really only shake your head at so much arrogance

Here you can find the original article.

Jutta Ditfurth's Series on the Greens

A – admittedly very subjective, but also very interesting – settlement of accounts with the Greens by Jutta Ditfurt. For me, the Greens were never really my party – I couldn't really warm up to either the nature-loving eco-enthusiasts wearing wool socks or the church festival-goers and gospel singers, and certainly not to the eco-fascists. But in the past, the Greens were at least entertaining – today they're just a boring and power-hungry normal party. A witty and entertaining experiment ruined with the lazy excuses of the Realists. A shame really ...

I found the original article at delta-c Weblog.

No Sex!

Great. On the way into the Big Brother era, the US is now introducing newspeak for scientists, at least if they still want to receive research funding. Everyone can imagine for themselves what this could mean for the freedoms of, for example, homosexuals in the USA in the future. Bush will probably also regard AIDS as God's punishment for homosexuality.

I found the original article at Telepolis News.

Fagan threatens railway with billion-euro demand

Why does a disgusting taste always remain in my mouth when I read these vexatious lawsuits from American lawyers? Certainly, it is justified to demand compensation for the relatives of the victims - there are German courts for that to handle. But the Americans' demands again lose all sense of proportion and really only give rise to the suspicion also expressed by the railway: that the lawyers only want to profit from the suffering of others.

This does not serve the matter itself - namely ensuring compliance with safety regulations and improving the operational safety of the railway so that such catastrophes cannot occur again. And the dead will not come back to life from excessive demands either ...

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

Researchers discover ancient DNA

Will this work better than with the mosquitoes in amber? I don't know, frozen mammoth urine doesn't exactly sound like a trustworthy basis ";-]"

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

Mac OS X and Darwinports

With DarwinPorts, there is an environment available for installing Unix programs from source, similar to the BSD Ports structure.

What is it? With DarwinPorts you can very easily install Unix software directly from the sources without having to laboriously fetch and patch the sources first. That's the idea.

Basically a very convenient installation structure similar to Debian packages, only based on source. In this respect DarwinPorts is very similar to Fink. So why do you need DarwinPorts? I was initially quite enthusiastic because I assumed it would be the real Ports environment (similar to how GNU-Darwin for example uses the Ports from FreeBSD and thus already has a huge set of programs ready to compile - significantly more than Fink) from BSD. Nothing doing - it's its own development. And not even more software in it than Fink. And even better: the make install crashes for me with a bus error in pkg_mkindex.tcl

To be honest: we don't need ten different installation systems for Mac OS X, we need one that really runs smoothly and works. And so I'd rather stick with Fink, which works flawlessly and by now already has a somewhat fuller list of supported packages.

I found the original article at Der Schockwellenreiter.

Send spam back?

To the remarks by Jutta, I'd like to add just my perspective as a system administrator. Because in addition to the problem of the data volume that accumulates (and which many still pay for based on data volume), there's another problem: bounces on bounces. The result of "contaminated" address lists is that many emails bounce. Those that bounce to forged but real user addresses land in that user's mailbox and annoy them. The others that cannot be delivered usually end up as corresponding system bounces in the mailbox of the system administrator of one of the involved mail servers.

I'm quite directly affected on several systems where I'm admin - the result is often unreadable bounce mail folders because so much flows in that you don't really want to wade through it to search for real problems. As a result, system problems that lead to mail delivery issues are often only noticed when users complain - nobody looks at the mess of bounce mail before that, just as little as the error reports of the mail server.

So if you like your system administrators (or simply want your mail to be handled properly), then think about them too when you carry out such anti-spam actions.

At Hexentanz there's the original article.

Stoiber praises Schröder

If Schröder were actually a Social Democrat, that should give him pause to think. But as things stand now, that won't bother him much further ...

At RP Online: Politik you can find the original article.

Dream Over: No US Funds for OpenBSD

I would have been surprised if it had actually worked - Theo is not exactly the most accommodating and cooperative person, and conflicts with the idea of "whoever is not with us is against us" were pretty much inevitable. Still, it's a shame that the Americans let themselves be guided by ideology and nationalism once again, instead of simply implementing what is actually a good idea. After all, work on OpenBSD benefits the entire open source community - just think of OpenSSH.

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Biblis A shut down due to safety concerns

Have they been quietly shrinking in recent years, or why hasn't anyone noticed this before?

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

The Rollberg ...

With this whole server shared apartment story, I keep wondering if the servers regularly argue about who's supposed to do the backup, or who's doing the filesystem check, and why the edge server is already responsible for content delivery again, even though the other servers do much less ...

At das Netzbuch - ralles Weblog there's the original article.

Unpaid advertising through linking or "How to successfully bring a commercial weblog server...

Jutta settles accounts with the hype surrounding 20six in the media and other blogs (some of which also do so indirectly through constantly repeated links). What strikes me about the whole story is this claim that 20six (or other similarly structured systems) would be a community - but is it really?

The term community is gladly used in an inflationary way as soon as someone has a great idea and benefits from the — sometimes voluntary and free — services of others. Sure, for the operator it's marketing (and nobody will be too explicit about the true core, that they live off and profit from the voluntary work of their users — that would be economic suicide). Can you simply declare a community into existence, like the chancellor declares a state of emergency?

Why do users accept being co-opted like this? Without having the true freedoms of a community? Herd mentality? Is subordination cool? Or is learning how to do it yourself (or how to properly participate with others) simply too tedious and too much work?

Is it simply more convenient to go to a server where the operator exploits your own work, but in return proudly holds up the community sign to the outside world, without having to do anything for it yourself?

I'd find it boring if I didn't get to experience all the problems and frustrations of doing things yourself. When I have the choice between taking something ready-made or building it myself, I choose the build-it-myself route. Maybe I'm just perverted ...

At Hexentanz, there's the original article.

Oil or Culture

I don't see much difference between the Afghan Taliban, who shot up the Buddha statues with anti-tank weapons, and the US administration, who deemed the oil ministry important enough to protect but allowed the National Museum and National Library to be ransacked and destroyed. And the fact that the Americans are confirming the prejudice about their cultural barbarism here is no consolation either.

I found the original article on Telepolis News.

Technical stuff from Rollberg

I'm curious to see how SQLite performs there. I've looked at it several times myself and have been searching for a project to use it in. There are also Python bindings for SQLite (even on the Zaurus - I think that's where it will first be used for me).

At Der Schockwellenreiter you can find the original article.

US experts to search for weapons of mass destruction

The Americans will make sure they find weapons of mass destruction. If they can't find them based on their sales receipts, they'll just bring some themselves

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Dentist develops drill for Mars probe

And when Mars has brushed its teeth properly, it means here too: Mom, he didn't drill at all!

At Astronomische Kleinigkeiten you can find the original article.

Heise wins against spammers

Strike! At heise online news you can find the original article.

Interesting Programming Language: Goo

Goo is a compact and simple programming language from the Lisp family with complete object orientation and some nice technical features (for example, dynamic compilation of Goo code into native code with the help of a C compiler). In some ways, Goo seems to be an alternative to Paul Graham's Arc - Goo with a focus on object orientation, Arc with a focus on functional programming. I should take a look at it sometime, could definitely be interesting.

Here's the original article.

SPD-Left warns of government failure

Great arguments from the Chancellor. The Left is simply suffering from a loss of touch with reality. Sure: on the A7 a wrong-way driver comes towards you. - One? Hundreds!

At RP Online: Politik you can find the original article.

Migration of muensterland.org to a new machine

If there are any strange effects over the next few days: I'm moving muensterland.org to a different machine and there may naturally be occasional disruptions. It shouldn't really happen, since the system architecture is relatively well-suited to moves and restructuring, but well, there were still the horses and the pharmacies ...

(and no, I wasn't with Strato before, I'm moving for financial reasons)

Man dies in forest fire in Nottuln

Wow. That's just two villages over, and a colleague of mine is in the volunteer fire department there!

I found the original article at WDR.de.

Did CNN cheat on the Moore Oscar speech?

Hmm. If that's true, then CNN turned up the volume on the boos during Michael Moore's Oscar speech. But maybe the CNN cameraman just happened to be standing closer to a group of opponents than the ABC cameraman?

At [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]][0] I found the original article.

Is Freenet the AOL of weblogs?

It somehow reminds me a lot of the time when AOL opened the gates to Usenet and hordes of AOL users stormed into Usenet - and of course did everything wrong that could possibly be done wrong. Is Freenet developing into the corresponding counterpart in the weblog sector? Will Freenet eventually become a synonym for mindless, copied, and nonsensical weblogs?

I found the original article at ::ab::gebloggt::.

Lower Saxony wants to privatize the judiciary

And did she also privatize and outsource her brain?

I found the original article on RP Online: Politik.

So that the monkeys are recognized?

Not so the monkeys can be recognized - it's simply just the first zoo with facial recognition. If you look too stupid, you end up in the cage, not on the paths.

I found the original article at Der Schockwellenreiter.

Explosive increase in birch pollen

Achoo! I found the original article at RP-Online: Science.

Reform package: Schröder threatens to resign

So really, a chancellor is already finished when he has to blackmail his own party to push through his ideas against the base.

Which raises the question of what should actually determine a party's culture: clinging to the power of the chancellor and his direct supporters, or the opinion and wishes of the base. Yes, I know the chancellor's answer to that. On this point, he's no different from his portly predecessor ...

But if you want to experience something truly undemocratic, you just have to look at the internal structures of unions or parties.

I found the original article at RP Online: Politik.

Safari Public Beta 2 is here

Yay! Tabbed Browsing! That was indeed still an annoyance of the previous beta. I just always had way too many windows open.

At Industrial Technology & Witchcraft I found the original article.

Thierse: Lafontaine is not capable of majority

So I like that photo

At RP Online: Politik there's the original article.

BDI wants to strip employee representatives of power

Great. So it's supposedly untenable for unions to strike against companies where they have seats on the supervisory board? And workers' representatives certainly shouldn't be allowed to sit in the personnel committee that sets executive salaries, because otherwise the executives might get the impression they are dependent on the unions? What do you actually call this form of loss of reality that Mr. Rogowski is suffering from?

The constant attempts and initiatives to dismantle every workers' representation and workers' protection that has been fought for over many years is now really audacious. Sure, entrepreneurs smell opportunity when even an SPD government starts talking against unions and thinks it has to attack every form of social security.

We really are not heading into good times.

You can find the original article at tagesschau im Internet under this link.

''No Question'' Some Senior Iraqis Fled to Syria, Rumsfeld Says

Further Preparations of Syria as the Next Theater of War?

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

Former Chancellor Kohl was Adviser to Kirch

So if Kirch took advice from Kohl on the subject of sitting things out, then Kirch could certainly see why that wasn't the right strategy...

Well, Theo Waigel (also called "Das Brauen"), Wolfgang Bötsch and Rupert Scholz were also involved. It's somehow strange how a company can go bankrupt with such competent advice. Oh, wait, I forgot, the same team had previously mismanaged the FRG, so maybe it is explainable after all.

At RP Online: Politik there's the original article.

Pictures with the 2.8/180 on the RTS III

I uploaded a stack of images (though they haven't been accessible since 2007 because I destroyed the domain), which I took in Hamburg with the RTS III and the 2.8/180 I picked up that day. A truly magnificent lens - nicely compact for its aperture and really excellent in optical performance. And I like the focal length too.

Cool Animal of the Week: Hairy-legged Bat

(Sorry to Safari users, the link could send your Safari into the desert - no idea what's broken there) Why cool? Well, what would you say about a bat that catches fish at night using radar guidance or trawl net technique? Yes, you read that right, fish.

With the first technique, the bat dives down real eagle-fisher style at its prey, with the second it drags its claws through the water and fishes for fish. The catch is put straight into its mouth while flying and then eaten head-down while hanging at rest.

And it looks cute too

Here's the original article.

The Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War

I find it quite interesting in general how differently the British and Americans are acting in Iraq. Yesterday on the night news, a journalist said he had the impression that the Americans are simply overwhelmed by the task of taking on police functions in addition to security duties. In a way, it's quite perverse: one has no problem destroying everything, but when it comes to securing and enforcing what is constantly talked about in the US administration, they are overwhelmed.

The statements from Rumsfeld on this are extremely interesting: essentially, he said that such things happen, that people who are free are also free to commit stupidities and crimes. Well, great. Wonderful attitude.

I much prefer the British approach, which at least tries to contain part of the chaos they have brought upon the people in Basra, instead of talking nonsense about how it's all just fine ...

Postscript: on http://lies.com/ someone posted some excerpts from and comments on Rumsfeld's briefing. And the Guardian also has an article about it.

At Hexentanz I found the original article.

FDP demands entry fee from journalists at party conference

Who would pay admission to see these blockheads anyway? Although, as an absurd theater piece it might actually be interesting

At RP Online: Politik you can find the original article.

Human Trafficking and Temple Prostitution in South Asia

A link for Jutta: > The following is a contribution by Sudeshna Chakravarti, professor and social scientist at the University of Kolkata in India. She spoke about sexual exploitation in South Asia in the context of interstate and regional migration. Here is the original article.

More, more!

Soso, Soso, Soso's colleague from http://retrogra.de/ is attempting virtual stock market manipulation. Where on earth is the virtual stock market regulator where one can report him?

At No Retreat, No Surrender you can find the original article.

Post without title

And if someone could now explain to me what kind of ridiculous mess of topics I have here today and where the common thread is, I would be very happy

Ace of Spades Hussein

I don't know why, but somehow I have a sneaking suspicion that entirely new poker variants will emerge now

At Der Rollberg you can find the original article.

Chocolate can relieve pain

OK, so I'm treating myself to a bar of pain therapy

At RP-Online: Wissenschaft you can find the original article.

TopicExchange Channel for German Blogs

Jutta has created a channel on http://topicexchange.com/ where you can send a ping when you write an article about a new blog. It would certainly be nice if the usual suspects now update their software and send trackback pings to it.

The channel can be pinged at http://topicexchange.com/t/blogs_deutsch/ with trackback. Users of the Python Desktop Server only need to enable the channel in the settings under the Topics page. If you want to subscribe to the channel in your aggregator, you can do so using the address http://topicexchange.com/t/blogs_deutsch/rss.