Friday, December 30, 2005
Would you install software made by these people?
Every once in a while I hear about people who have gotten a bad haircut and were offered another one as a compensation. I always wondered about it: if they fucked it up the first time around, why would anyone get another haircut from the same hairdresser, considering that the damage is cumulative? And what happens when they fuck up again? Sounds like a sure recipe for the hairstyle of the Russian Civil War hero Kotovsky, which I suppose is OK if that's what you want, but which in any case is not a thing people normally want to pay for.
Well, turns out that hairdressers are not the only ones who are offering such "corrections". Our old friend Sony BMG has reached a tentative settlement with the customers who are suing it. It is offering a new normal CD instead of the "Cd product", another downloaded CD from a list of more than 200, $7.50 (or alternatively three downloands and no $7.50), a promise to stop making CD products with XCP and to provide a software to uninstall that, ahem, technology (I think the proper term is malware).
Somebody please explain me: considering the fine quality of the software that originally came with the CD product, and the even finer quality of the software that they then provided to uninstall the software that originally came with the CD product, is there still anyone in the world who would voluntarily install or use any kind of software provided by Sony BMG?
Well, turns out that hairdressers are not the only ones who are offering such "corrections". Our old friend Sony BMG has reached a tentative settlement with the customers who are suing it. It is offering a new normal CD instead of the "Cd product", another downloaded CD from a list of more than 200, $7.50 (or alternatively three downloands and no $7.50), a promise to stop making CD products with XCP and to provide a software to uninstall that, ahem, technology (I think the proper term is malware).
Somebody please explain me: considering the fine quality of the software that originally came with the CD product, and the even finer quality of the software that they then provided to uninstall the software that originally came with the CD product, is there still anyone in the world who would voluntarily install or use any kind of software provided by Sony BMG?
Thursday, December 29, 2005
"We support freedom of speech as long as you are saying nice things that do not offend people"
That's what a guy from Singapore told me sometime in 1993. He was quite serious about it, too. At that point I figured it must be some cultural difference between Singapore and the West. Guess not:
The Council of Europe has criticised the Danish government for refusing to take action against Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons of prophet Muhammed. Franco Frattini, the Deputy EU commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security, said that the cartoons will cause hostility against Islam and foreigners.
No shit, Sherlock? Let's take a look at the background of the case: last summer a Danish writer has complained that it's hard to get anyone to illustrate a book about Muhammed, because everyone is afraid of a retaliation by Muslims (it is forbidden to draw the prophet). In order to test the current state of freedom of speech in Denmark Jyllands-Posten asked a number of artists to draw Muhammed cartoons, and 12 did. The freedom-of-speech test: Danish government passed, Muslims failed, the Council of Europe sort of passed but does not look good.
Silly me. I thought that hostility against Muslims might have been caused by riots, threats to bomb Denmark, and guys like Imam Raed Hlayhel saying that democracy is worthless to Muslims and that women who go to hairdressers will later go to hell. And maybe - just maybe - by a perception that Muslims might overreact to anything that offends them by, say, issuing fatwas against writers, stabbing film directors and having violent protests in Pakistan and Kashmir over depictions of the prophet in Denmark. But now I know that it must be the cartoons. You just look at a cartoon and immediately start doubting that Islam is the world's most peaceful religion.
Egyptian Grand Imam Muhammad Sayid Tantawy also condemned the Danish government for showing such disrespect towards Islam. Wait, is that the same Tantawy who said in April 2002 that Jews are "enemies of Allah, sons of apes and pigs"? And later during the same year called for intensifying the "martyrdom operations" against Israel? Yeah, just the guy whom you want to lecture you on the subjects of respect for other religions and freedom of speech.
Seriously, though, I think that freedom of religion has already pretty much died in the West, and freedom of speech is under attack, and not just from radical Islam.
The Council of Europe has criticised the Danish government for refusing to take action against Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons of prophet Muhammed. Franco Frattini, the Deputy EU commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security, said that the cartoons will cause hostility against Islam and foreigners.
No shit, Sherlock? Let's take a look at the background of the case: last summer a Danish writer has complained that it's hard to get anyone to illustrate a book about Muhammed, because everyone is afraid of a retaliation by Muslims (it is forbidden to draw the prophet). In order to test the current state of freedom of speech in Denmark Jyllands-Posten asked a number of artists to draw Muhammed cartoons, and 12 did. The freedom-of-speech test: Danish government passed, Muslims failed, the Council of Europe sort of passed but does not look good.
Silly me. I thought that hostility against Muslims might have been caused by riots, threats to bomb Denmark, and guys like Imam Raed Hlayhel saying that democracy is worthless to Muslims and that women who go to hairdressers will later go to hell. And maybe - just maybe - by a perception that Muslims might overreact to anything that offends them by, say, issuing fatwas against writers, stabbing film directors and having violent protests in Pakistan and Kashmir over depictions of the prophet in Denmark. But now I know that it must be the cartoons. You just look at a cartoon and immediately start doubting that Islam is the world's most peaceful religion.
Egyptian Grand Imam Muhammad Sayid Tantawy also condemned the Danish government for showing such disrespect towards Islam. Wait, is that the same Tantawy who said in April 2002 that Jews are "enemies of Allah, sons of apes and pigs"? And later during the same year called for intensifying the "martyrdom operations" against Israel? Yeah, just the guy whom you want to lecture you on the subjects of respect for other religions and freedom of speech.
Seriously, though, I think that freedom of religion has already pretty much died in the West, and freedom of speech is under attack, and not just from radical Islam.
A tiny minority of extremists
Norwegian NGO FAFO has conducted a poll on the political attitudes of Palestinians.
50% support suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, 33% support Al-Qaeda's bombings in Iraq, 65% support Al-Qaeda bombing in Europe and the US, 12% support Al-Qaeda bombings in Jordan.
For a second I wondered: why Europe? What did Europe ever do to the fuckers? But then I figured: what's not to like? Four assholes blow themselves up on London subway, and immediately G-8 give $3 billion to Palestinian Authority. Hey, if I got $3 billion every time somebody bombs somebody else, maybe I'd support the bombings too.
50% support suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, 33% support Al-Qaeda's bombings in Iraq, 65% support Al-Qaeda bombing in Europe and the US, 12% support Al-Qaeda bombings in Jordan.
For a second I wondered: why Europe? What did Europe ever do to the fuckers? But then I figured: what's not to like? Four assholes blow themselves up on London subway, and immediately G-8 give $3 billion to Palestinian Authority. Hey, if I got $3 billion every time somebody bombs somebody else, maybe I'd support the bombings too.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Hanukka: who celebrates it?
First of all, who celebrates it? I don't know any Jews who really celebrate Hanukka, or in any case they don't invite me (which might have something to do with the drinking game thing). My guess would be that it is mostly celebrated by Jews in Western countries who have kids and need to have something to show the kids instead of Christmas.
Just checked out the Hanukka customs on the net (the traditional ones that do not, as I just found out, involve drinking games) and they are all very Ashkenazi and Central European (a Yiddish-language game, potato pancakes, etc.). I wonder what do the Sephardi do for Hanukka, and what was everyone doing before potatoes were invented.
Those potato pancakes are evil, BTW. More evil than gefilte fish. I have always had a feeling that most Jewish food (or most Ashkenazi food anyway) was invented by an antisemite. Or else by Jews who had to defend themselves from antisemites, although I am not quite convinced about the efficiency of gefilte fish as a defense weapon.
Just checked out the Hanukka customs on the net (the traditional ones that do not, as I just found out, involve drinking games) and they are all very Ashkenazi and Central European (a Yiddish-language game, potato pancakes, etc.). I wonder what do the Sephardi do for Hanukka, and what was everyone doing before potatoes were invented.
Those potato pancakes are evil, BTW. More evil than gefilte fish. I have always had a feeling that most Jewish food (or most Ashkenazi food anyway) was invented by an antisemite. Or else by Jews who had to defend themselves from antisemites, although I am not quite convinced about the efficiency of gefilte fish as a defense weapon.
Christmas
Christmas was good. We went to Maija's and JP's place on Christmas eve, to Ville's and Leena's on Monday, and on Sunday I just stayed home and watched Buffy and Amazing Race. There was wine and ham and the potato thingie and riisipuuro and chocolate cake and good company. Tried to make a raspberry cake which turned out ok but had way too much raspberry in it. Maybe will try it again with less raspberry.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Dreidel-dreidel-dreidel!
Upon realizing that Hanukka is today I also realized I lost my dreidel (a four-side die used for a Hanukka game). I looked around at the Net, and, sure enough, found a virtual dreidel.
I also read up on Hanukka and realized that dreidel is not a drinking game as I always thought. Bugger.
I also read up on Hanukka and realized that dreidel is not a drinking game as I always thought. Bugger.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukka!
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates Christmas, and happy Hanukka to everyone who celebrates Hanukka!
It's kind of weird that they are on the same day this year. Never seen this before.
It's kind of weird that they are on the same day this year. Never seen this before.
Friday, December 23, 2005
The Great Infidel Holiday
The Great Infidel Holiday is here again. The general panic in stores has to be seen to be believed. I always tend to forget during the year, and then sometime in mid-December I start wondering why the stores are so overrun with frantically shopping people. And then I remember that Christmas is coming and bugger off to Stockmann's chocolate department to see what they brought us for Christmas.
I always feel faintly guilty about liking Christmas, because almost everyone else is panicking and shopping and cooking and whatever, and I just come and eat everyone's riisipuuro. It's easy to like holidays that you don't have to do anything for.
Mmm, maybe should make some riisipuuro by myself just for the hell of it...
I always feel faintly guilty about liking Christmas, because almost everyone else is panicking and shopping and cooking and whatever, and I just come and eat everyone's riisipuuro. It's easy to like holidays that you don't have to do anything for.
Mmm, maybe should make some riisipuuro by myself just for the hell of it...
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Mark Steyn on self-delusion
A couple of the current conversations in my blog and elsewhere reminded me of this article, written by Mark Steyn in Telegraph.
A quote:
These days, whenever something goofy turns up on the news, chances are it involves a fellow called Mohammed. A plane flies into the World Trade Centre? Mohammed Atta. A gunman shoots up the El Al counter at Los Angeles airport? Hesham Mohamed Hedayet. A sniper starts killing petrol station customers around Washington, DC? John Allen Muhammed. A guy fatally stabs a Dutch movie director? Mohammed Bouyeri. A terrorist slaughters dozens in Bali? Noordin Mohamed. A gang-rapist in Sydney? Mohammed Skaf.
Maybe all these Mohammeds are victims of Australian white racists and American white racists and Dutch white racists and Balinese white racists and Beslan schoolgirl white racists.
But the eagerness of the Aussie and British and Canadian and European media, week in, week out, to attribute each outbreak of an apparently universal phenomenon to strictly local factors is starting to look pathological. "Violence and racism are bad", but so is self-delusion.
A quote:
These days, whenever something goofy turns up on the news, chances are it involves a fellow called Mohammed. A plane flies into the World Trade Centre? Mohammed Atta. A gunman shoots up the El Al counter at Los Angeles airport? Hesham Mohamed Hedayet. A sniper starts killing petrol station customers around Washington, DC? John Allen Muhammed. A guy fatally stabs a Dutch movie director? Mohammed Bouyeri. A terrorist slaughters dozens in Bali? Noordin Mohamed. A gang-rapist in Sydney? Mohammed Skaf.
Maybe all these Mohammeds are victims of Australian white racists and American white racists and Dutch white racists and Balinese white racists and Beslan schoolgirl white racists.
But the eagerness of the Aussie and British and Canadian and European media, week in, week out, to attribute each outbreak of an apparently universal phenomenon to strictly local factors is starting to look pathological. "Violence and racism are bad", but so is self-delusion.
Pyrophobia
I wonder why pyrophobia (fear of fire) is quite uncommon in humans while it is fairly common in other mammals. A few friends suggested that maybe most people who used to be afraid of fire simply got weeded out by evolution, which seems like a good theory. I wonder if there is anything else to it, though. Are monkeys afraid of fire?
Antikiller
Watched Antikiller at Ville's and Leena's place on Tuesday. It's a Russian movie about criminals. The movie was otherwise fun, but the uneven-slow-motion scenes (of the kind filmmakers usually use to hide bad martial art choreography) were quite annoying.
The characters were so disgustingly realistic that half of them could have been my former schoolmates.
The characters were so disgustingly realistic that half of them could have been my former schoolmates.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
The terrorist-in-chief
What have we learned from Iran's First Terrorist this fall:
1. Israel is a cancer and should be wiped off the map.
2. Holocaust never happened.
3. A supernatural light surrounded him while he was addressing the General Assembly of the UN.
4. The main mission of the Iranian Islamic revolution is to pave way for the reappearance of the 12th imam.
5. Israel should be moved to Germany and/or Austria (which begs the question of whether they should be wiped off the map, too).
6. Israel should be moved to United States, Canada or Alaska (which begs the question of whether he owns any map published after Alaska became a part of the USA).
7. Iranian nuclear program is totally peaceful! We swear! Yeah, and we have just coincidentally bought 29 Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems, and 18 North Korean BM-25 missiles, too, and we want missiles whose range will extend to 3500 kilometers.
(3500 km is enough to hit Vienna, Berlin and Rome. And Helsinki, too, although it is unlikely that he knows about it. And Israel is only 1500 km away.)
Yesterday the terrorist-in-chief banned Western music on state TV and radio (do they have private stations?) and banned all officials from travelling abroad without a prior approval by foreign ministry. All in a day's work.
The world is mostly laughing him off, just like a lot of people laughed Hitler off after the publishing of Mein Kampf. OK, so it's not exactly the same thing, what with one of them being a ridiculous clown and the other being a president of a 70-million country that is currently building nukes.
1. Israel is a cancer and should be wiped off the map.
2. Holocaust never happened.
3. A supernatural light surrounded him while he was addressing the General Assembly of the UN.
4. The main mission of the Iranian Islamic revolution is to pave way for the reappearance of the 12th imam.
5. Israel should be moved to Germany and/or Austria (which begs the question of whether they should be wiped off the map, too).
6. Israel should be moved to United States, Canada or Alaska (which begs the question of whether he owns any map published after Alaska became a part of the USA).
7. Iranian nuclear program is totally peaceful! We swear! Yeah, and we have just coincidentally bought 29 Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems, and 18 North Korean BM-25 missiles, too, and we want missiles whose range will extend to 3500 kilometers.
(3500 km is enough to hit Vienna, Berlin and Rome. And Helsinki, too, although it is unlikely that he knows about it. And Israel is only 1500 km away.)
Yesterday the terrorist-in-chief banned Western music on state TV and radio (do they have private stations?) and banned all officials from travelling abroad without a prior approval by foreign ministry. All in a day's work.
The world is mostly laughing him off, just like a lot of people laughed Hitler off after the publishing of Mein Kampf. OK, so it's not exactly the same thing, what with one of them being a ridiculous clown and the other being a president of a 70-million country that is currently building nukes.
Monday, December 19, 2005
No rest for the wicked, or säätö on ikuista
Finally installed everything on my computer: got skype with well-working sound, even got it to mount my cameras without much whining. Now the work computer is giving me shit: xorg eats 97% of the CPU.
Googled it. Turned out to be a common problem with ubuntu breezy, and nobody knows a sure solution. There is a million of homemade solutions each of which work for some people.
Anyway, edited the dri and glx modules from xorg.conf, booted. So far so good, don't know for how long.
Googled it. Turned out to be a common problem with ubuntu breezy, and nobody knows a sure solution. There is a million of homemade solutions each of which work for some people.
Anyway, edited the dri and glx modules from xorg.conf, booted. So far so good, don't know for how long.
Nightmare
For the first time in many years had a nightmare that was a continuation to another nightmare a few weeks ago, and it was quite horrible and frighteningly real. I woke up and immediately had to check out the Wikipedia to find out whether or not it really was a dream (yes, if it were true it would be in the Wikipedia). Yes, it was a dream. I also had to concentrate for a while and remember that no, really, I haven't been to Frankfurt in the last few weeks, or indeed in the last 9 years.
I am rarely so disoriented.
I am rarely so disoriented.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
It's official: I am a moron
Next time I try to install anything at all on a buggy shit of a motherboard somebody should run after me with a whip screaming "remember the noapic option, bitch!".
ASUS A8N-VM CSM, if somebody cares, and what finally got installed was Debian testing, complete with a scary Nvidia video driver, a 3com ethernet card (could not get the motherboard's own integrated ethernet device to work and the great-grandmother of all Ensoniq audio cards (got the integrated SoundMax audio working with the newest ALSA and great effort, but the sound was truly terrifying).
Almost gave up and started torrenting the latest SuSE, feeling like a fallen woman, but then remembered the noapic.
ASUS A8N-VM CSM, if somebody cares, and what finally got installed was Debian testing, complete with a scary Nvidia video driver, a 3com ethernet card (could not get the motherboard's own integrated ethernet device to work and the great-grandmother of all Ensoniq audio cards (got the integrated SoundMax audio working with the newest ALSA and great effort, but the sound was truly terrifying).
Almost gave up and started torrenting the latest SuSE, feeling like a fallen woman, but then remembered the noapic.
Now it's official: I am a pervert
Just spent a while wondering how to synchronize sex life and kernel compilation so that the kernel would be ready as soon as I come.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Iran's religious leaders oust Ahmadinejad, claim he was a Mossad agent
Iran's religious leaders, lead by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have ousted the democratically elected president Mahmud Ahmadinejad. He is currently imprisoned and accused of being an Israeli agent whose assignment was to tarnish Iran's image in the international community.
OK, just kidding. The man is on the roll. He denied Holocaust again, and suggested that Canada and the US might be good places to move Israel into. He did not explain what Canada and the US have to do with the Holocaust, except that they know that it in fact happened. I reckon that he thinks the further from Iran, the better, and next candidates will be Chile and Argentina. If Iran prefers that Jews move to Argentina it is not quite clear why they arranged that bombing in a Buenos Aires Jewish community building in 1994, but hey, that was before Ahmadinejad's time.
The president of the EU's administrative body, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Iranians "do not have the president, or the regime, they deserve. It calls our attention to the real danger of that regime having an atomic bomb." Hmm, I thought they elected the fucker.
This is not funny anymore.
OK, just kidding. The man is on the roll. He denied Holocaust again, and suggested that Canada and the US might be good places to move Israel into. He did not explain what Canada and the US have to do with the Holocaust, except that they know that it in fact happened. I reckon that he thinks the further from Iran, the better, and next candidates will be Chile and Argentina. If Iran prefers that Jews move to Argentina it is not quite clear why they arranged that bombing in a Buenos Aires Jewish community building in 1994, but hey, that was before Ahmadinejad's time.
The president of the EU's administrative body, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Iranians "do not have the president, or the regime, they deserve. It calls our attention to the real danger of that regime having an atomic bomb." Hmm, I thought they elected the fucker.
This is not funny anymore.
The computer upgrade: light at the end of the tunnel, must be an oncoming train
After having a lot of trouble with Kubuntu I finally said "fuck it" and installed Debian testing amd64, and lo and behold, it works. It uses vesa driver for the graphics and somehow fails to use any resolution over 1280x1024, but otherwise the graphics are fine. It could not find the motherboard's integrated ethernet card, but I installed another one from my ethernet card collection, and it's a mere 10/100, but it works. The sound still does not work - will try to tweak it tonight or, failing that, will install my old sound card which is so ancient that cavemen used to beat each other over the head with it when no clubs were available.
Tried to install some drivers from nVidia site, but they turned out to be evil, failed to unstall and disapproved of every fucking kernel source in the known universe.
Tried to install some drivers from nVidia site, but they turned out to be evil, failed to unstall and disapproved of every fucking kernel source in the known universe.
"Dear fellow citizens. I've been very, very bad."
Helsingin Sanomat reported yesterday that there is a plan for a new law that would permit the winners of copyright cases to make the person who broke the copyright put an announcement in a paper about it and pay for it.
"Lakiin sisältyvä pykälä antaisi riita-asioissa jutun voittaneelle osapuolelle mahdollisuuden tuomiosta ilmoittamiseen tiedotusvälineissä tekijänoikeuksia loukanneen kustannuksella."
To me this sounds like a clear assumption as to who would in fact win such a case, but big boys told me that this is written that way only because this punishment will only apply when a copyright holder wins the case, and not the other way around. Copyright holders will not be made to put up a announcement "oops, I accused an innocent person, sorry".
The idea is strange, and is fairly far out from the point of view of Finnish legal practices.
"Lakiin sisältyvä pykälä antaisi riita-asioissa jutun voittaneelle osapuolelle mahdollisuuden tuomiosta ilmoittamiseen tiedotusvälineissä tekijänoikeuksia loukanneen kustannuksella."
To me this sounds like a clear assumption as to who would in fact win such a case, but big boys told me that this is written that way only because this punishment will only apply when a copyright holder wins the case, and not the other way around. Copyright holders will not be made to put up a announcement "oops, I accused an innocent person, sorry".
The idea is strange, and is fairly far out from the point of view of Finnish legal practices.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Tookie revisited, or moonbats galore
Zombie has some Tookie Williams vigil pics. Where do all those insane fuckers crawl out from every time there is even a margianlly left-wing event? I mean, a fair lot right-wingers are completely and utterly batshit-crazy, but every right-wing event does not automatically attract nearly as many batshit-rightwingers.
Mind you, I don't find anything particularly crazy about opposing death penalty to the point of protesting every single execution, especially since they happen about once every two and a half years in California. What I find a bit suspicious are the people who demand the death of various elected officials as opposed to the death of a convicted quadruple murderer. I guess that on some level I don't really believe in the sincerity of their opposition to death penalty.
This brings back the fond memories of many pro-choice events I attended in Boston when I lived there. It needed to be done, I would do it again if I had to, and most people there were completely normal, but there were enough freaks of various kinds to be a nuisance, and all of them tended to believe that all of us support all their crazy causes. And yes, I realize that a person supporing one left-wing cause is more likely than average to support another one, but IMO it's not a reason for all of them to crawl out at the same time.
There was a Socialist Party politician who somehow reminded me of Illinois Nazis from Blues Brothers. There were people who tried to sell me books by Marx. I had to suggest to a number of communists that they should try out the Theory by moving to the USSR, which still existed back then, but I am afraid none of them took my good advice. There were environmentalists all over the place - they sometimes have worthy causes, but I can't quite understand what these causes have to do with abortion. There was a few people to whom I had to explain that no, I have absolutely no desire to help them free Mumia, whoever he is.
My favorite was a woman from a feminist organization (one of the organizers of one event) who said that she does not want us to call the event "clinic defense". "Defense is such a masculine word," - she said, - "we should not use it. We should call this clinic solidarity." I found this strange since our job was to prevent an about 300-person antiabortionist group from entering the premises and blocking the entrances, and violence was expected. Somebody from the crowd asked her whether kicking them with a boot would be considered "solidarity with a dangerous weapon" in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but she did not find it funny.
Mind you, I don't find anything particularly crazy about opposing death penalty to the point of protesting every single execution, especially since they happen about once every two and a half years in California. What I find a bit suspicious are the people who demand the death of various elected officials as opposed to the death of a convicted quadruple murderer. I guess that on some level I don't really believe in the sincerity of their opposition to death penalty.
This brings back the fond memories of many pro-choice events I attended in Boston when I lived there. It needed to be done, I would do it again if I had to, and most people there were completely normal, but there were enough freaks of various kinds to be a nuisance, and all of them tended to believe that all of us support all their crazy causes. And yes, I realize that a person supporing one left-wing cause is more likely than average to support another one, but IMO it's not a reason for all of them to crawl out at the same time.
There was a Socialist Party politician who somehow reminded me of Illinois Nazis from Blues Brothers. There were people who tried to sell me books by Marx. I had to suggest to a number of communists that they should try out the Theory by moving to the USSR, which still existed back then, but I am afraid none of them took my good advice. There were environmentalists all over the place - they sometimes have worthy causes, but I can't quite understand what these causes have to do with abortion. There was a few people to whom I had to explain that no, I have absolutely no desire to help them free Mumia, whoever he is.
My favorite was a woman from a feminist organization (one of the organizers of one event) who said that she does not want us to call the event "clinic defense". "Defense is such a masculine word," - she said, - "we should not use it. We should call this clinic solidarity." I found this strange since our job was to prevent an about 300-person antiabortionist group from entering the premises and blocking the entrances, and violence was expected. Somebody from the crowd asked her whether kicking them with a boot would be considered "solidarity with a dangerous weapon" in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but she did not find it funny.
The computer upgrade
Installed the new motherboard and processor. Booted up. It said that my slave IDE is in fact master, and broken, and did not find the master at all.
Checked all connections. Booted. Same result.
Danced a rain dance in the nude, changed the new IDE cable to the old one. Booted. Now it found everything just fine. I guess it is just one of those small mysteries of life.
Tried to install Kubuntu. Installed. Booted. Updated. Failed to boot.
Figured that having a /boot partition was a bad idea to begin with. Repartitioned. Failed to install. The installer referred me to /target/var/log/bootstrapper.log, which wasn't there.
Repeated several times before realizing that fucked something up with primary and logical partitions. Repartitioned. Installed. Xorg still doesn't work but at least the thing boots and finds the network.
Said "fuck it" and buggered off to work without my morning tea.
Checked all connections. Booted. Same result.
Danced a rain dance in the nude, changed the new IDE cable to the old one. Booted. Now it found everything just fine. I guess it is just one of those small mysteries of life.
Tried to install Kubuntu. Installed. Booted. Updated. Failed to boot.
Figured that having a /boot partition was a bad idea to begin with. Repartitioned. Failed to install. The installer referred me to /target/var/log/bootstrapper.log, which wasn't there.
Repeated several times before realizing that fucked something up with primary and logical partitions. Repartitioned. Installed. Xorg still doesn't work but at least the thing boots and finds the network.
Said "fuck it" and buggered off to work without my morning tea.
Life sucks
Did not sleep enough, my nose is sore and I managed to bite my lip to the point of a rather bad bleeding (as in two very bloody tissues). Now it is sore and drinking tea hurts.
Feel like going home to bed and crawling under the blanket with some cough medication.
Feel like going home to bed and crawling under the blanket with some cough medication.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
A bunch of murderers
Just came into my mind: if I had to choose a group of people who'd done the most murders per person and the obvious choices like "murderers", "terrorists", "people whose last name is Hitler", etc., were out, I would go for "Nobel Peace Prize nominees".
Of course I don't know what kinds of murderous assholes were nominated in the last 50 years (they don't reveal nominations until 50 years have passed) but the nominations of the times before that were bad enough. (Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, you name them...)
And yes, I am aware that nomination process is not particularly discriminating and that there was a bunch of perfectly decent people nominated as well, but apparently being a murderous dictator practically guarantees a nomination.
Of course I don't know what kinds of murderous assholes were nominated in the last 50 years (they don't reveal nominations until 50 years have passed) but the nominations of the times before that were bad enough. (Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, you name them...)
And yes, I am aware that nomination process is not particularly discriminating and that there was a bunch of perfectly decent people nominated as well, but apparently being a murderous dictator practically guarantees a nomination.
Tired
Been tired lately. Being sociable is fun but drains me; I am not designed to be sociable every night two weeks in a row, and I just did just that. I really need a few evenings all by myself, but the problem is that hanging out with people is a lot of fun and therefore it's hard not to do it; besides, there are quite a few people that I haven't seen for a while now and I miss.
Anyway, to everyone with whom I was supposed to do things in the near future but haven't set up the date yet: it's nothing personal, I am just a bit overwhelmed. I am sure I'll be back to my normal routine sometime next week, or even this weekend.
Been irritable lately, too: I am sure people are not suppose to go into dark and murderous rage from accidentally shading a emacs window. (No, did not kill anyone, even the window in question.)
Bought a motherboard yesterday, feeling better now. Will feel better when I buy a new processor, too. Does anyone know if a boxed Athlon 64 contains everything needed for its installation, or if I need something else (that silver goo that comes in between the processor and heat sink?)?
Anyway, to everyone with whom I was supposed to do things in the near future but haven't set up the date yet: it's nothing personal, I am just a bit overwhelmed. I am sure I'll be back to my normal routine sometime next week, or even this weekend.
Been irritable lately, too: I am sure people are not suppose to go into dark and murderous rage from accidentally shading a emacs window. (No, did not kill anyone, even the window in question.)
Bought a motherboard yesterday, feeling better now. Will feel better when I buy a new processor, too. Does anyone know if a boxed Athlon 64 contains everything needed for its installation, or if I need something else (that silver goo that comes in between the processor and heat sink?)?
The weekend: pikkujoulut and being sociable
We had pikkujoulut on Friday at work. First a meeting and chocolate cake (am never eating any chocolate cake ever again), then Megazone (I figured that after 6 year's break I would suck horribly at it, but in fact was 4th in a group of 19), then Cantina West (their lamb thingie has changed since spring: a lot smaller and with a different sauce, but just as good). Was a very nice evening even though some people ran away very early.
On Saturday Anu came over. We had some sparkling wine and then explored the attic, and then I woke up with a new wardrobe (not the clothes but the thing to hang them in) that I don't know where to put and a slight hangover.
On Sunday Heli came over and we had some tea, but she ran away very early (she lives very far away) and I went to Ville's and Leena's place where Ville showed us a most perverse American propaganda movie from 1943 where they said how lovely it was in the USSR. One look at that cinematographic masterpiece was enough to make me rethink my decision not to drink ever again.
Probably should go to Megazone more often (once or twice a week?): it's a good workout. Expensive, but what isn't? Running around shooting at people with a laser gun is a lot more fun than going to the gym.
New things tried:
Chapel Hill sparkling one: good
Cantina West cheesecake: bad (not objectively bad, but creamy and lemony in the way that I do not like)
On Saturday Anu came over. We had some sparkling wine and then explored the attic, and then I woke up with a new wardrobe (not the clothes but the thing to hang them in) that I don't know where to put and a slight hangover.
On Sunday Heli came over and we had some tea, but she ran away very early (she lives very far away) and I went to Ville's and Leena's place where Ville showed us a most perverse American propaganda movie from 1943 where they said how lovely it was in the USSR. One look at that cinematographic masterpiece was enough to make me rethink my decision not to drink ever again.
Probably should go to Megazone more often (once or twice a week?): it's a good workout. Expensive, but what isn't? Running around shooting at people with a laser gun is a lot more fun than going to the gym.
New things tried:
Chapel Hill sparkling one: good
Cantina West cheesecake: bad (not objectively bad, but creamy and lemony in the way that I do not like)
Monday, December 12, 2005
Fry Tookie
A number of celebrities are signing petitions in favor of convicted murderer Tookie Williams who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow. Is there anywhere I could sign a petition in favor of his execution?
It's strange really: in general I would like to see death penalty abolished, but in every particular case that is publicized in the US my first reaction is "fry the fucker" and I have no desire to see that particular person granted clemency.
("Fry" is a figure of speech here: I disapprove of the electric chair as a barbaric method of execution, and am glad almost all states got rid of it - Nebraska is the only state where the condemned cannot choose a lethal injection instead).
For those who don't know: Tookie murdered four people in two different robberies, all of them execution-style when he certainly did not have to.
It's strange really: in general I would like to see death penalty abolished, but in every particular case that is publicized in the US my first reaction is "fry the fucker" and I have no desire to see that particular person granted clemency.
("Fry" is a figure of speech here: I disapprove of the electric chair as a barbaric method of execution, and am glad almost all states got rid of it - Nebraska is the only state where the condemned cannot choose a lethal injection instead).
For those who don't know: Tookie murdered four people in two different robberies, all of them execution-style when he certainly did not have to.
Riots in Australia
There have been riots in Australia now, in Sydney. And, surprisingly enough, nobody is searching for root causes or wondering how Australia failed those young people. Everyone - at least all the news reports I've read, and the local political leaders - is calling them "thugs", which is what they are, and not "disadvantaged young people".
One could suppose that Australians learned from the French experience and started calling things their own names. But, being cynical (oops, I mean "experienced"), I have just a slight suspicion that this is because in Australia it's "majority/white/Anglo"* thugs beating up people of Middle Eastern origin and not the other way around.
* There should be some word for them, really. "White" is the word most often used, and "Anglo" is used at least in the US, but I sort of object to using "white" to mean "white - group X" in the context of a conflict of two white groups, or "Anglo" to describe a groups that is usually rather marginally Anglo. "Non-middle-eastern whites" would be correct in this particular context, but sort of too long.
One could suppose that Australians learned from the French experience and started calling things their own names. But, being cynical (oops, I mean "experienced"), I have just a slight suspicion that this is because in Australia it's "majority/white/Anglo"* thugs beating up people of Middle Eastern origin and not the other way around.
* There should be some word for them, really. "White" is the word most often used, and "Anglo" is used at least in the US, but I sort of object to using "white" to mean "white - group X" in the context of a conflict of two white groups, or "Anglo" to describe a groups that is usually rather marginally Anglo. "Non-middle-eastern whites" would be correct in this particular context, but sort of too long.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
The unspeakable in pursuit on the unattainable, again
The Music Publishers' Association will launch its first campaign against sites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics in 2006.
MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.
MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.
Islam's moderate face
Saudis are pissed off that Ahmadinejad opened his mouth at a summit dedicated to showing Islam's moderate face. Guess Ahmadinejad showed some other body part.
I, on the other hand, am pissed off that apparently we (the US) don't have the world's dumbest president anymore. Iranians sure won.
I, on the other hand, am pissed off that apparently we (the US) don't have the world's dumbest president anymore. Iranians sure won.
Ain't drinking anything ever again
How did this wardrobe appear in my room, and where the fuck am I gonna stick it?
Friday, December 09, 2005
Gimme some of those mushrooms, dude!
Iran's First Terrorist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opens his mouth again, this time at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
This time he said that the "tumour" of Israel should be moved to Europe:
"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail."
"Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?"
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to have limited his enthusiasm for moving current countries and populations to moving Israel out of the Middle East. In any case, he did not reveal any plans for Iranian Muslims to move back to Saudi Arabia and leave Iran to the Zoroastrians that Muslims have once conquered it from.
Israel, the USA and Europe condemned Ahmadinejad's comments. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "I condemn them unreservedly. They have no place in civilised political debate." IMO Ahmadinejad himself has no place in civilized political debate, but I guess politicians could not put it that way.
That, boys and girls, is the guy who is going to have nuclear weapons real soon now.
This time he said that the "tumour" of Israel should be moved to Europe:
"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail."
"Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?"
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to have limited his enthusiasm for moving current countries and populations to moving Israel out of the Middle East. In any case, he did not reveal any plans for Iranian Muslims to move back to Saudi Arabia and leave Iran to the Zoroastrians that Muslims have once conquered it from.
Israel, the USA and Europe condemned Ahmadinejad's comments. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "I condemn them unreservedly. They have no place in civilised political debate." IMO Ahmadinejad himself has no place in civilized political debate, but I guess politicians could not put it that way.
That, boys and girls, is the guy who is going to have nuclear weapons real soon now.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
I wasn't dead
Haven't posted much lately because my parents were visiting. It was great to see them even though I had to endure a 5-day-long lecture on How I Live My Life In A Totally Wrong Way And Never Sweep Under The Bed.
We walked around the downtown Helsinki, had a few friends over, ate good food, spent afternoons calling grandma, aunt and other various relavies who attended to grandma in their absence.
Among other things my parents were concerned about was the unsufficient size of the chocolate cakes I make.
Anyway, this is why I was largely absent from blogging/work/irc/parties lately.
Now I am so sleep-deprived that today I dragged myself to a doctor and sat there for half an hour wondering why he does not call me in before realizing that this is a wrong day and my appointment is for tomorrow (no, nothing dramatic). Bugger. Could've slept longer.
We walked around the downtown Helsinki, had a few friends over, ate good food, spent afternoons calling grandma, aunt and other various relavies who attended to grandma in their absence.
Among other things my parents were concerned about was the unsufficient size of the chocolate cakes I make.
Anyway, this is why I was largely absent from blogging/work/irc/parties lately.
Now I am so sleep-deprived that today I dragged myself to a doctor and sat there for half an hour wondering why he does not call me in before realizing that this is a wrong day and my appointment is for tomorrow (no, nothing dramatic). Bugger. Could've slept longer.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Don't fuck horses...
At least not anally, or in any case when it's your ass and their dick.
Here is the article about the newest Darwin Award candidate:
Two gentlemen, Mr. Tait, 54, and Mr. Pinyan, 45, decided to seek sexual pleasures in a barn that did not belong to either of them. Mr. Pinyan opted for receptive anal intercourse with a male horse while Mr. Tait was videotaping the event.
Pinyan died of perforated colon. Tait was sentenced to one-year suspended sentence, a $300 fine and 8 hours of community service for trespassing. No animal cruelty charges were filed as only a human was harmed in the making of that movie. The fate of the videotape remains unknown to me, but I can only hope that it will make it to the internet.
Here is the article about the newest Darwin Award candidate:
Two gentlemen, Mr. Tait, 54, and Mr. Pinyan, 45, decided to seek sexual pleasures in a barn that did not belong to either of them. Mr. Pinyan opted for receptive anal intercourse with a male horse while Mr. Tait was videotaping the event.
Pinyan died of perforated colon. Tait was sentenced to one-year suspended sentence, a $300 fine and 8 hours of community service for trespassing. No animal cruelty charges were filed as only a human was harmed in the making of that movie. The fate of the videotape remains unknown to me, but I can only hope that it will make it to the internet.
Happy Independence Day, Finland!
I think this is going to become my traditional yearly Independence Day address:
Happy Independence day, Finland.
Good thing you got out of Russia when you did. Russia sucks.
Happy Independence day, Finland.
Good thing you got out of Russia when you did. Russia sucks.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Shopping is good for your soul
Had a shitty week in many ways: allergy, waking up too early in the morning, broken data at work, grandma is sick, parents are coming or not coming to visit, etc. (Parents coming to visit is good if they actually come, which it seems they probably will.) Decided to go shopping to cheer myself up. Bought 512M of memory. You can't really go wrong with memory: it's even better than shoes.
Stuck memory in the motherboard and am feeling a lot better already. Except that can't do the same again anytime soon as have run out of DIMM slots in the motherboard.
Stuck memory in the motherboard and am feeling a lot better already. Except that can't do the same again anytime soon as have run out of DIMM slots in the motherboard.
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