Bob, you will be sorely missed.

All in all the entry isn’t very interesting to me - the way however in which he explains how reporting apparently works today is a gem of a quality you hardly find on the net. I have to add that personally I feel this is definitely not only true for political reporters. The long term repercussions of bad reporting is an uninformed society. Not being informed is the last thing the society will notice before it’ll fall into (probably unnoticed) totalitarianism.

[…]One of the principal functions of political reporters ought to be to dissect and dispense with misleading political sloganeering, but instead, they fulfill the opposite function: they are the most enthusiastic and effective disseminators of these cliches.

Some of them do it consciously and knowingly, for ideological reasons, to curry favor with sources. But many of them are driven by a far more banal dynamic. They “analyze” political disputes this way because most of their impressions are shaped by Beltway political operatives whom they respect and admire, on whom they depend, and this is how they have things explained to them. […]

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure ;

Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.

At the moment I hope that some Lilux (LiLux - GNU/Linux User Group Luxembourg) members will help me to get some people motivated to join, it will be quite a problem, to get a critical mass of members, otherwise.

Once we are a bunch of people we could try to do some Ubuntu Advocacy.

Computer-related fairs and exhibitions can certainly benefit from an Ubuntu presence! The LoCoComputerFairHowTo suggests ways to organize a booth, volunteer staffing, et al. Canonical can help with CDs, and in the future hope to have a conference pack with posters and related materials.

Another possibility for advocacy is to help ensure that Ubuntu gets coverage in your regional press. There are Linux magazines all over the world that highlight and review distributions in every issue, sometimes even distributing CDs. Help us get Ubuntu in the magazines you read! Those magazines also sometimes want to interview local people who are using the distribution - share your success stories.

UbuntuFriendlyHardwareSuppliers describes how you can organise contacting and listing PC suppliers in your area, asking if they supply Ubuntu friendly (or even preinstalled!) hardware.

And as normally there’s no capital punishment on sharing recipes, I’ve went ahead and copied them shamelessly over here for you to appreciate. I sure hope Jennifer doesn’t mind.

If there’s a brave, who has or plans to try one of the cocktails, I’d be glad to read his comment.

• Listening to the Drums of Feynman
  The perfect nightcap after a long day struggling with QED equations.
  1 oz dark rum
  1/2 oz light rum
  1 oz Tia Maria
  2 oz light cream
  Crushed ice
  1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  In a shaker half-filled with ice, combine the dark and light rum, Tia Maria, and cream. Shake well. Strain into an old fashioned glass almost filled with crushed ice. Dust with the nutmeg, and serve. Bongos optional.
• Combustible Edison
  Electrify your friends with amazing pyrotechnics!
  2 oz brandy
  1 oz Campari
  1 oz fresh lemon juice
  Combine Campari and lemon juice in shaker filled with cracked ice. Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Heat brandy in chafing dish, then ignite and pour into glass. Cocktail Go BOOM! Plus, Fire = Pretty!
• Hiroshima Bomber
  Dr. Strangelove’s drink of choice.
  3/4 Triple sec
  1/4 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
  2-3 drops Grenadine
  Fill shot glass 3/4 with Triple Sec. Layer Bailey’s on top. Drop Grenadine in center of shot; it should billow up like a mushroom cloud. Remember to “duck and cover.”
• Mad Scientist
  Any mad scientist will tell you that flames make drinking more fun. What good is science if no one gets hurt?
  1 oz Midori melon liqueur
  1-1/2 oz sour mix
  1 splash soda water
  151 proof rum
  Mix melon liqueur, sour mix and soda water with ice in shaker. Shake and strain into martini glass. Top with rum and ignite. Try to take over the world.
• Laser Beam
  Warning: may result in amplified stimulated emission.
  1 oz Southern Comfort
  1/2 oz Amaretto
  1/2 oz sloe gin
  1/2 oz vodka
  1/2 oz Triple sec
  7 oz orange juice
  Combine all liquor in a full glass of ice. Shake well. Garnish with orange and cherry. Serve to attractive target of choice.
• Quantum Theory
  Guaranteed to collapse your wave function:
  3/4 oz Rum
  1/2 oz Strega
  1/4 oz Grand Marnier
  2 oz Pineapple juice
  Fill with Sweet and sour
  Pour rum, strega and Grand Marnier into a collins glass. Add pineapple and fill with sweet and sour. Sip until all the day’s super-positioned states disappear.
• The Black Hole
  So called because after one of these, you have already passed the event horizon of inebriation.
  1 oz. Kahlua
  1 oz. vodka
  .5 oz. Cointreau or Triple Sec
  .5 oz. dark rum
  .5 oz. Amaretto
  Pour into an old-fashioned glass over (scant) ice. Stir gently. Watch time slow.

[…] What bothers me is the implication that the bare minimum is good enough, that as long as the other half of the conversation can work out the intended message, we’re golden. This disturbs me greatly; when did we stop striving towards excellence in our daily lives? When did we decide that the most minimal of efforts should be good enough? When did we become this lazy? […]

The entry is basically about the fact that it seems to be socially acceptable to write and publish material online without caring in the least about how things are written or how to formulate sentences. I am by no means implying that I am writing correct English but that I am trying to - which is worth a lot already.

[…] Anyway, the bottom line is that it dismays me that people seem to be content with putting in the least effort possible, and acting as if that’s as far as we ever should go. It dismays me because it indicates a lack of desire to ever excel at anything, to push boundaries and try to better oneself and the world. […]

If Perl is dead, then it is by far the most vital, active and useful deceased programming language I have ever come across. Perl is, in fact, alive and thriving, and it is uniquely suited to a variety of programming projects with its flexibility, power, and extensive code base. I write in Perl because it provides everything needed to support enterprise software applications. I write in Perl because it is actively being maintained and developed. I write in Perl because nothing else gets the job done better: long live Perl.

Doesn’t really need a comment, or does it?

Found @ Perl is Dead. Long live Perl on O’Reilly via Digg.

For those of you who can stand another picture, and are willing to use some extra bandwidth: here’s a look at it from the back.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev criticized the United States, and current President George W. Bush in particular, on Friday for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.

Gorbachev, who presided over the break-up of the Soviet Union, said Washington had sought to build an empire after the Cold War ended but had failed to understand the changing world.

“The Americans then gave birth to the idea of a new empire, world leadership by a single power, and what followed?” Gorbachev asked reporters at a news conference in Moscow.

“What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people.”

No comment from my side.

Interestingly - there was a fellow called Kip Watson who went ahead an questioned (actually he was quite unfair - his first sentence being: “OK, now you’re just being silly.“)

Anyhow, having not much to do at the moment I went ahead and checked Kips website. I’ll just quote the most probably best collection of examples of flawed logics and factual mistakes I have ever come across in a single blog post.

Does religion cause terrorism?

1) The massive upsurge in terrorism is a post war phenomenon, coinciding with the period of greatest attempted Soviet expansionism.

2) The great majority of terrorists, much greater in number and equal in savagery to Al Qaeda, have been Socialists (usually referred to as ‘Communists’, which is a faction of Socialism).

3) While a backward and violent society during most of the cruel Ottoman domination, the Arabs didn’t learn the particular sadistic effectiveness of modern terrorist tactics until they fell deeply under the Soviet sphere of influence.

4) Sayyid Qutb, the political philosopher behind Al Qaeda, owes at least as much and probably more to Hitler (Nazism — National Socialism — being another faction of Socialism) than to Islam.

5) Socialism is nothing but the logical political consequence of the philosophy of Materialistic Atheism.

Therefore the cause of terrorism is not ‘religion’ but Athesim.

Wow, ey? I kind don’t even know where to start. Then again, he has been so kind as to list his statements with numbers, so I guess that the best way to get over with this is to just take them one by one. I can’t possibly be told that I am taking his statements out of context, as each and everyone is a new entity.

The massive upsurge in terrorism is a post war phenomenon, coinciding with the period of greatest attempted Soviet expansionism.

Wait… post war? Which war? World War 2? Or the soviet war in Afghanistan? Or are we talking about wars where the United States took part? Damn it, I just don’t know which one he is talking about. Or maybe the last Iraq war? Na, that wouldn’t fit. There is no soviet anymore.

Massive upsurge in terrorism? Wait, weren’t the French revolution, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand no terrorism? What about the Russian Revolution of 1905 or 1917? What do you define as terrorism Kip? If it is a fight against an established piece of society, against a government, against oppression, these sure are valid examples. Better yet, they all took place before WW2, which I believe you are talking about.

What about the greatest attempted Soviet expansionism. What do you mean by greatest attempted expansionism? You don’t try expansionism. You either do it, or you don’t. Depending on what exactly you are talking about. Every god damn war is to some extend at least caused by expansionism. And I really mean every war. You could cite the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and I’d say: “Hey look, an interesting example.” You could cite the Russo-Turkish War but that wouldn’t be soviet expansionism anymore, now would it?

The great majority of terrorists, much greater in number and equal in savagery to Al Qaeda, have been Socialists (usually referred to as ‘Communists’, which is a faction of Socialism).

Excuse me, what? First of, please contact your Department of Defense. You seem to know a hell of a lot about those fancy terrorists. Maybe you can be of some value to whatever your country does. Anyhow, let’s get on with this.

On what information do you base what you just said? In which way do the terrorists you know behave like, or remind you of Socialists? I suppose you are talking about Muslims here - as you are naming Al Qaeda. I fail to see how you can say that those people or there entourage is socialistic. Most of the Arabic countries have very conservative politics, and nothing at all in common with socialism. Whomever you talking about that, that’s not the main point here.

The point is: Saying that socialists are often referred to as communists shows that you have no idea at all about what socialism is in the first place. Even then: saying that communism is a part of socialism is in my eyes the same as saying that nationalism is a part of republicanism (or conservatism if you want).

While a backward and violent society during most of the cruel Ottoman domination, the Arabs didn’t learn the particular sadistic effectiveness of modern terrorist tactics until they fell deeply under the Soviet sphere of influence.

Well mate, I come to think that you just don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about. Truly amazing and fascinating stuff. No offense, but perhaps you should go back to comic books. It’s unbelievable through which amount of pain certain people go to publish some crap like that. Astonishing I say.

Are you really comparing modern terrorist tactics with the things people learned from each other about 350 years ago? That’s when the Ottoman Empire was at the verge of it’s geographical size.

Let’s ignore the subtle placement of the pleonasm - cruel domination - and get on to other things. When exactly were the states who formed after the ottoman empire shrank in size over the years in the soviet sphere of influence? I mean, we are not talking about the Greece, Austria, and the like, are we? Otherwise your reference earlier on to “Al Quada” wouldn’t really make any sense. We can’t be talking about the Mahgreb either.

Let’s see what we’ve got left over.

Egypt? Hm, was quite conservative and nationalistic at the time. You surely remember Nasser, don’t you? Suez crisis and the like? No worries if you don’t, just trust me, that wasn’t really socialism.

Iraq? Was ruled by the Hashemite until 1958. It then was - yes, I acknowledge you this one - for 5 whopping years in quite good standings with the Soviets. Saudi Arabia never even got close to a similar situation.

And Iran was for the majority of the 20th century a close ally to the U.K. and the U.S. We certainly aren’t talking about the post revolution area, or are we?

So, which country have you been talking about? Or which regions?

Sayyid Qutb, the political philosopher behind Al Qaeda, owes at least as much and probably more to Hitler (Nazism — National Socialism — being another faction of Socialism) than to Islam.

Excuse me - what? You certainly know that Sayyid has been dead for about 40 years? Nevertheless, I give you the point that his writings might have inspired one or the other. The relation to Hitler however…

And what on earth allows you to state that Hitler had anything to do with socialism? Or that his movement was a part of socialism? Are you mad? I mean seriously… claiming that his regime was a socialistic one is utter nonsense. If anything he was rather a pure anti-socialist or anti-communist if you want.

Socialism is nothing but the logical political consequence of the philosophy of Materialistic Atheism.

Ya, right. Using a lot of words which sound intelligent doesn’t always end up forming an intelligent sentence. In this case, it definitely didn’t. Would you please be so kind as to illustrate on how socialism and atheism are linked? You claim that it’s a logical consequence; but why would that be so? Where is the consequence, where is the logics behind such a statement?

Therefore the cause of terrorism is not ‘religion’ but Athesim

Brilliance. You actually went through the pain of posting 5 different statements but use only one to base your conclusion on? Nice.

I can’t even be bothered to reply to the conclusion in the first place. Just let me give you a hint on what to do next time.

Read about what you are writing (and I really mean something else then the Bible) before you go ahead and publish something.

Ahoy