Martin Pool's blog

Economist article titles, or indy playlist?

Now I want to hear what A lot to be angry about sounds like.

posted Wed 7 May 2008 in /random | link

Unanswerable

Q: Isn't it demeaning to treat women as sex objects?

A: ... female novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand wrote ...

posted Tue 27 Feb 2007 in /random | link

SLAs, Chile Style 

> I disabled cl.archive.ubuntu.com pointing to 200.89.74.17 around 24
> hours ago because 200.89.74.17 was unreachable for a long period of
> time.  In fact I could not reach any nameservers for calel.org so I
> could not send you an email explaining what we have done.
>
> Could you let me know what happened and if you are ready for me to point
> cl.archive.ubuntu.com back at your mirrors IP address 200.89.74.17?
In September 11 1973 General Pinochet lead a bloody military coupe in Chile, which overthrew democratically elected President Allende. Every september 11 there are demonstrations, or celebrations, depending on which band you belong to. There are riots, barricades, Molotov cocktails, tear gas, power outages and most of Santiago is in a war state. This year was no exception. The power to the university campus came back around noon september 12, after being out for more that 24 hrs. An average situation.

This will probably happen every september 11 until the generation that survived the Pinochet dictatorship is dead.

posted Wed 20 Sep 2006 in /random | link

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Death)

Graphic showing spatial distribution of suicidal jumps from the Golden Gate Bridge

(From jwz)

posted Wed 6 Sep 2006 in /random | link

Safety Trivia

According to a journal article cited today by Crikey,

Ignition of furnishings by smoking materials in houses is by far the most common cause of death by fire.

I've seen dozens or hundreds of public safety advertisements about fire safety, smoke detectors, etc, and never seen this mentioned. Or, from the other direction, why not print it on cigarette packages?

Laugesen et. al. continue

For the last 25 years at least, manufacturers have resisted introducing fire retardent (...) cigarettes. The tobacco industry made payments to scores of fire organisations in the 1990s to dampen calls for a fire safe product.

posted Wed 6 Sep 2006 in /random | link

Good things

Happy Hacking keyboard. (Mako lent me his at UDU and now I bought one myself. It lets me put my laptop screen at a better position and it's just so cute.)

The 3Ds Hellzapoppin.

Homemade bread.

Getting back to work after LCA and UDU.

posted Tue 10 May 2005 in /random | link

Slashdot Insightful

"This doesn't really fix the problem", Score: +3 Insightful

This is just another short-term bypass to a long-term problem. Eventually, this will be just as usefull as CVS/Subversioni is right now for open source projects on different distributions.

Later:

To be honest, I've never used anything but some CVS and mostely Subversion. I've never used the so-called "centralized" system.

To be frank, I don't even know the difference.

To be frankly honest about all this, I didn't read beyond the /. article. As far as I can tell, this is aimed at Open Source projects on an array of distributions.

Ah, slashdot.

(This is in the context of a ZDNet article about Launchpad, Canonical's rather interesting meta-versioning system, of which more later.)

posted Sun 8 May 2005 in /random | link

Thought for today

There are probably nine other people on the planet who are thinking about the same idea right now. The only question is which one of you is actually going to make it happen. — Eric Sink

posted Thu 16 Dec 2004 in /random | link

WotD: mythopœic

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

Mythopoeic \Myth`o*p[oe]"ic\, a. [Gr. myqopoio`s making myths; my^qos myth + poiei^n to make.]

Making or producing myths; giving rise to mythical narratives.

The mythopœic fertility of the Greeks. --Grote.

posted Tue 30 Nov 2004 in /random/words | link

consuetudinary

n : a manual describing the customs of a particular group (especially the ceremonial practices of a monastic order) [syn: {consuetudinal}]

posted Tue 30 Nov 2004 in /random/words | link

eBay's huge selection

Some people may find eBay's google ad offensive.

posted Thu 28 Oct 2004 in /random/humour | link

Did this happen to you too?

My breakfast was interrupted by the doorbell. A guy delivered a packet of hundred-dollar bills.

posted Thu 23 Sep 2004 in /random | link

UNIX Application or Outlawed Paramilitary/Guerrilla Organization?

McSweeny's: UNIX Application or Outlawed Paramilitary/Guerrilla Organization?

Correction: TNT is both a Unix application and a paramilitary organization. And several other things beside, though sadly not yet a dessert topping.

(Thankyou David.)

posted Tue 21 Sep 2004 in /random/humour | link

The End of Argument

I am coming to feel there is no point in argument.

By this I mean that if you disagree with someone, there is little to be gained by responding and contradicting them, arguing against them, or pointing out why they're wrong. Rather: just make your own case, and say what you think is right and why. There's not enough time to rebut all the possible wrong arguments, and it often distracts your audience either emotionally or intellectually.

I don't know if this reflects something about the way the internet works or is changing, or something changing in me. Probably all of the above.

posted Mon 6 Sep 2004 in /random | link

Gold-medal hyperlinking idiocy

Dan Gilmore:

By introducing a link to the ATHENS 2004 official Website on your site you are agreeing to comply with the ATHENS 2004 Website General Terms and Conditions.

In order to place a link embedded in copy interested parties should: [....]

c) Send a request letter to the Internet Department.

posted Tue 17 Aug 2004 in /random | link

The pros and cons of capital flight

The Economist writes on the folly of specially-established capital cities.

Purpose-built capitals also struggle to create a cultural life of their own, especially since the politicians and their flunkeys tend to fly back to their constituencies at the end of each week's parliamentary sessions, leaving the city half-deserted. On seeing the young Canberra, a reporter from Britain's Punch magazine quipped: Londoners may be all too aware of the disadvantages of living in a city without a plan, but these cannot be compared with the rival disadvantages of living in a plan without a city.

posted Sat 14 Aug 2004 in /random | link

Treskilling Yellow

From Wikipedia:

The "Treskilling" Yellow, or 3 skilling banco error of color, is a postage stamp of Sweden, and as of 2004 the most valuable stamp in the world. At a price of 71 billion US dollars per kilogram (as of 1998) it is one of the most valuable things in the world by weight and by volume.

posted Wed 11 Aug 2004 in /random | link

Let the games begin

Paul Hochman on shenanigans in the Olympic Village.

posted Fri 30 Jul 2004 in /random | link

Airport signs

Seen in SFO:

NO CHANGE WITHOUT A PURCHASE

Very true.

posted Tue 27 Jul 2004 in /random | link

Airport signs, two

NO LITTERING.
DO NOT LEAVE CHILDREN UNATTENDED

posted Tue 27 Jul 2004 in /random | link

Slightly used Lamborghini

eBay:

You are bidding on a slightly used Lamborghini. It only has 121 miles garage kept. Had a small brake problem.

posted Thu 1 Jul 2004 in /random/humour | link

Airplane Rule

From wiki:AirplaneRule:

It has been said that for the inexperienced pilot, in the case of an engine failure, the second engine is there to get you to the site of the crash.

posted Thu 24 Jun 2004 in /random | link

Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

Stephane says: it's funny because it's funny.

posted Tue 22 Jun 2004 in /random/humour | link

"Bereaved suffer less after euthanasia"

I used to think those headlines were just made up, but according to mediawatch, the ABC really did write:

New study finds bereaved suffer less after euthanasia

posted Fri 18 Jun 2004 in /random/humour | link

The Tyrrany of Taste

Indulging in tyranny of taste: Bay Area is fertile soil for cultivating snobs, according to Vicki Haddock:

We like to tell ourselves that we live in the most egalitarian country on Earth, and that the Bay Area is the epicenter of unpretentiousness. It is rather like our halo. No caste system here, barely a blip on any snob-o- meter. Mutual respect, our mantra. Diversity, our virtue. Tolerance, our sacrament.

Mais, au contraire! We actually may live in one of the snob centers of the universe.

posted Mon 24 May 2004 in /random | link

machine-room archaology

Last week I installed a new rack in our little machine room, to hold some Itanium development machines. Part of that was trying to hook up a "PDU" (power distribution unit), which is basically a fancy/expensive power board. This one needs an AS-3112 15A to IEC C20 cable. Those are hard to find.

Under the raised floor, while trying to find a power point, I found thick ethernet cable, with Digital repeaters(?) still attached.

posted Wed 19 May 2004 in /random | link

From: Jesus

Subject: help
To: postmaster.samba.org

Hi:

My name is Jesus and I want to subscribe to the list samba....

posted Wed 5 May 2004 in /random | link

mouse tricks

I like to run oneko (chases the cursor) and unclutter (hides the cursor) at the same time and let them fight it out.

posted Tue 27 Apr 2004 in /random | link

The lighter side of occupational health and safety

From S:

For your information: The next time a member of staff receives a radioactive injection prior to a bone scan or other medical procedure, please don't approach the safety officer to ask for a radiation detector and give the impression that there has been an accident. It has already been done!!! I must congratulate the organisers of this joke on it's success, whether it was intentional or not (and I don't think it was). If I was a cat I probably used up about seven of my lives this morning. It is just a shame that they were a day late; April Fool's Day was yesterday. - Andrew.

posted Tue 6 Apr 2004 in /random/humour | link

Great source filenames

From a source tarball I just received:

fm/src/cpp/fm/memprovider/test/HASStub/has/common/util/:wq!

(I think your fly is undone.)

posted Tue 6 Apr 2004 in /random/humour/nerdy | link

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