ScummVM - Interpreter for LucasArts games, also available for the Zaurus

Smile by Satimage-software

That doesn't sound bad at all. An AppleScript editor with an interactive AppleScript shell, various extensions and above all an interface builder. And the whole thing available for free download. And the description sounds like it would be a decent alternative to the much heavier (but also much more powerful) AppleScript Studio for small hacks.

Here's the original article.

TrueBlur by FixerLabs - Simulates shallow depth of field through artificial blur

Tucholsky is still right after all

Nothing has changed, the same old arguments, the same false conclusions, the same false demands. It's quite alarming how Die Freie Wirtschaft still fits like a glove, even after so many decades. The original article can be found at gnurps here.

Forged URLs in Internet Explorer

Loch an Loch and yet (not) holds

At heise online news there is the original article.

Harald Schmidt quits - so what?

Full agreement. I never understood all the fuss about Harald Schmidt when it was still new. He's quitting the show now. So what.

There's the original article at Nochn Blogg.

IronPython Benchmarks

The programmer of JPython/Jython (a Python implementation for the Java Virtual Machine) apparently is working on an implementation of Python for the .NET Common Language Runtime. And first benchmarks look very good, better than some other attempts that were made at ActiveState. It looks like in the foreseeable future Python code can be used both within Java applications and .NET applications, in addition to the native implementation that already exists. I find that very pleasant, because it allows me to use my currently favored programming language even in silly Windows projects that we'll be dealing with in the near future.

In the Java environment I'm already using Jython as a convenient alternative syntax when I have to work with any foreign libraries in Java - Jython is much more comfortable there (and the interactive environment is absolutely great when you need to experiment with foreign libraries, because the documentation isn't sufficient again!).

Here's the original article.

News: Microsoft the Engine - Linux the Brake?

Of course nothing new - just more FUD about Linux and hype about Microsoft again. What bothers me about the whole thing though: apparently an institute at the University of Münster let itself be bought for this study. Since Münster is my hometown, I take this kind of nonsense somewhat personally - I would have expected more integrity from the University of Münster. But money rules the world, nobody cares about facts anymore.

Here's the original article.

Confusion about Microsoft patches

Confusion, anarchy, chaos!

Well, whether Microsoft releases patches or not doesn't really matter anyway - the security holes come faster than the patches anyway...

At heise online news you can find the original article.

GROKLAW explains exactly what SCO must submit to IBM

According to the schedule, SCO has to provide a large amount of information, in particular exactly where the alleged patent violations are located (with file and line number specifications), as well as stating why SCO believes a patent violation exists, whether and if so who else had access, and some other information surrounding this whole matter. I'm really curious to see what SCO can actually submit to the court.

IBM, by the way, doesn't have to submit anything until SCO has completed their part, and that's also part of the judge's ruling.

Here you can find the original article.

Insect Action: Save the Tree Lobster! - Science - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Ok, I understand that the tree lobster needs to be saved. But is the approach of poisoning an entire island so that all rats die really the right one? Rats can adapt well - it's possible they won't catch all the rats, but then the survivors will have an easier time with the weakened other animals afterward? Or the Noah's Ark experiment doesn't work and the other animals die out - what does the tree lobster get out of that?

In the end it always comes down to the same thing: whenever man tries to fix something, it can almost only get worse...

Here's the original article.

Medley Lisp

Actually just blogging so I can find it again later. Medley Lisp is the successor to the Lisp that runs on Xerox Lisp machines. Two releases run on my Lisp machines: Koto Lisp and Lyric Lisp. Koto Lisp is a pure Interlisp-D environment (by the way, Rainer Joswig put the introductory manual online, and there's also a film about using Interlisp-D online), whereas Lyric Lisp additionally includes an implementation of Common Lisp. Medley Lisp is the direct successor release to Lyric Lisp, thus strongly Common Lisp centric, though the system basis still builds on Interlisp-D. Medley Lisp no longer runs on Lisp machines, but is instead brought to various platforms via an emulator. I still have a version of the emulator for DOS; only an old Solaris version and a Linux version (for Intel processors) are still sold. The software has a long history; the first releases date from the early 1980s, much code from that time is still found in the system (all of Interlisp-D, that is). But I'd guess that the TCP/IP implementation in Interlisp under the emulator version is no longer used; instead, it probably accesses the system's own TCP/IP stack.

At home I still have two functional Siemens replicas of the Xerox 1186 machines, and over a meter of documentation. It's fascinating what's packed into these machines and what performance they already had back then—and this despite the processor not being the fastest. The processor itself had loadable microcode, so the instruction set could be adapted to the system (Smalltalk, Lisp, or Prolog). In principle, that was also an emulator back then, just realized in hardware.

Here's the original article.

New Elections in Hamburg

Wow. That was quick. Great performance!

And to the Hamburg residents: at the next election, it really doesn't have to be the Schillhaufen ...

At Nochn Blogg. you can find the original article.

Pedophilia: Now the victims are to blame!

Once again, proof of the inhumanity of certain judges. The verdict could easily come from Schill: Rather, due to existing neglect tendencies resulting from the lack of educational influence from their parents, the children were recognizably interested in the sexual acts themselves. (...) Moreover, the abused children suffered no recognizable further psychological harm beyond their already existing environmental damage as a result of the accused incidents. How can a judge deliver such a contemptuous justification? Are children from socially problematic circumstances now the lowest of the low, whom one can simply abuse?

At Telepolis News you can find the original article.

Slate Language Website

Ok, yet another programming language. But the mix is what appeals to me: taking inspiration from Self, Common Lisp and Smalltalk really hits my taste. I'll have to get the whole thing and try it out. Certainly it won't reach the critical mass needed to do anything serious with it - lately only Ruby has managed that, and even that was something of a sensation - but it's interesting nonetheless.

Here's the original article.

ATPM 9.12 - ATPO: Outliner Use Patterns

An interesting article about various user scenarios for outliners and related programs. It provides a good overview of software available on Mac along with their respective focuses and areas of application. Anyone planning to acquire such software should browse through here, which saves a lot of personal trial and error.

Here's the original article.

The dream of a breakfast service on the train is over

That's exactly what the Ich-AG concept is all about: the formerly employed worker is thrown between the millstones of large corporations with a small concept that might just barely work at the local level. When the big players no longer like it, they can easily get rid of him. He then no longer falls into the unemployment statistics, but at best among those receiving social welfare. The balance sheet looks great and an existence is destroyed.

Or did someone really believe that the Ich-AG was in any way about a forward-looking concept that people are supposed to live from long-term? Fooled you. Gotcha.

If it were really about that, the Ich-AG entrepreneurs would also be offered security measures when they go into self-employment. But that gets shifted by the state to the private sector; these people are supposed to get their own security.

Of course, the sloppy founder meetings (more hype than facts) and the rather time-constrained advisory services are not sufficient to turn a former employee into a full merchant. And promptly there are problems later with insurance, contracts, payments, taxes or contributions.

The Ich-AG would be a good concept if it really built on a sustainable model that included security and comprehensive support in business formation—and in a way that would allow the Ich-AG entrepreneur to take the risk. The way it's running now, the most frequently used advice will probably ultimately be debt counseling...

At WDR.de there's the original article.

RSA-576 cracked

It took a long time, but now it's done. The first level cracked. Sure, a 2048-bit key is still quite difficult to crack, but it's foreseeable when these limits will also fall. Time for new algorithms and new approaches. My PGP 2.63uin version (please don't be alarmed by the layout of the pages, that's all still from 1998) already had 8129-bit key length, which should last a little while longer. At heise online news there's the original article.

Schill ignores loss of power

Wow, Riots in Hamburg

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

SCO releases draconian NDA

An interesting breakdown of all the clauses not included in the SCO NDA. As a result, such a signed NDA would mean that the signatory could only report about SCO what SCO had previously allowed them to sign – regardless of where that knowledge came from, whether they already had it beforehand or whether they might have received it from outside sources. In principle, anyone who signs this NDA would be completely eliminated as a critic of SCO. This would obviously make free investigations of SCO's claims impossible.

At XMLMania.com - Google News Search: SCO I found the original article.

British Prisoners Should Remain in Guantánamo

The British Home Secretary fears that British Guantanamo detainees could be acquitted in British courts. And that's why he's arguing that they should remain in Guantanamo. Quite perverse, if you ask me. An acquittal in British courts would be a determination that the detainees are innocent - but that would actually require that they be removed from Guantanamo as soon as possible. But the British government isn't interested in the rights of its citizens, only in the image that Bush's little lapdog presents ...

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Low Frequency

Well, you can definitely be fooled by that. According to this discussion, there are problems with several programs displaying the processor speed. My PowerBook G4 867 is also promptly displayed as 533, even though it encodes music CDs just as quickly as before. Something seems to have changed in the system interfaces with 10.2.8 that misleads some programs. At Industrial Technology & Witchcraft you can find the original article.

SCO postpones balance sheet conference to third quarter

So folks, please keep SCO financially alive at least long enough until they get roasted in court. I want to see the debacle and watch the stock prices crash because of the CEO's stupidity

At heise online news there's the original article.

Cruel and Tender: Photography and the Real

Perhaps an interesting exhibition for some.

You can find the original article on WDR.de.

Schill disempowers Schill

Wow, that's quite a rapid self-destruction. That's what happens when there are no viable political concepts, only stupid polemics and stupid slogans.

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Black Holes in Miniature

Sometimes you can't quite shake the feeling that researchers watch too much bad science fiction

There's the original article at Telepolis News.

Security? What security?

Ouch. Yes, it really still works:

 simon:/usr/local/sbin# traceroute bell.ca traceroute: Warning: bell.ca has multiple addresses; using 204.101.196.36 traceroute to bell.ca (204.101.196.36), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets 1 HOSGate.your-server.de (213.133.111.1) 2 et-2-1.RS86001.RZ3.hetzner.de (213.133.96.121) 3 gi-2-2.RS8K1.RZ2.hetzner.de (213.133.96.57) 4 nbg.de.lambdanet.net (213.133.96.234) 5 F-2-eth100-0.de.lambdanet.net (217.71.105.13) 6 PZU-1-pos100.fr.lambdanet.net (217.71.96.34) 7 LDCH-1-ge000.fr.lambdanet.net (217.71.96.86) 8 109.ge1-0.er1a.cdg2.fr.above.net (62.4.77.225) 9 pos0-3.cr1.cdg2.fr.above.net (208.184.231.206) 10 so-5-1-0.cr1.lhr3.uk.above.net (64.125.31.129) 11 so-0-0-0.cr2.lhr3.uk.above.net (208.184.231.146) 12 so-7-0-0.cr2.lga1.us.above.net (64.125.31.182) 13 pos12-0.pr1.lga1.us.above.net (64.125.30.190) 14 bellnexxia-mfn-oc12.pr1.lga1.us.mfnx.net (64.125.12.34) 15 bells-network-has-lots-of-security-holes-to-exploit.bell-nexxia. (206.108.103.197) 16 bells-network-has-lots-of-security-holes-to-exploit.bell-nexxia. (206.108.103.213) 17 64.230.243.217 (64.230.243.217) 18 bells-network-has-lots-of-security-holes-to-exploit.bell-nexxia. (206.108.97.206) 19 bells-network-has-lots-of-security-holes-to-exploit.bell-nexxia. (206.108.105.138)

It's quite embarrassing when someone points out a security problem to you in this way.

The original article can be found at kasia in a nutshell here.

Software Update is being updated

It would actually make quite a lot of sense. It's been annoying me for a while that I have to check for various software updates separately. From Debian I'm used to only needing one update service. On OS X that's a bit cumbersome sometimes ...

At Industrial Technology & Witchcraft you can find the original article.

German School: Six, Sit Down

A fundamental overhaul of the school system would be the logical step. Better training opportunities for teachers also result in better-trained teachers – contrary to popular opinion, there are indeed motivated teachers out there (I even got to know a few during my school days). And ultimately, it is the teachers who educate our future – or destroy it.

On the other hand, one can hardly expect that in times when there are calls for schools and universities to be geared even more rigidly toward later use in the economy, that knowledge transfer itself can still be the central focus. Just look at what politicians are calling for at the moment when they present their wonderful education reforms. Shortening the total time in school, earlier enrollment – what is that supposed to achieve? Approaches to problems in the school system must start with teaching methods and personnel. Children want to learn. The older they get, the more motivation needs to come into play – why they should continue learning – after all, learning is not without effort, and no child will sustain it for 10-13 years without motivation. This also includes further education after school – study places and apprenticeships must be available so that kids can see perspectives on where their learning leads. Otherwise, even if the teacher wears a red foam nose ever so often, by middle school no one will take him seriously if he cannot point to a potential future. And this also requires their own concepts – merely parroting concepts from yesterday borrowed from other countries doesn't help either.

Where, for example, are the continuations of the alternative school systems that were examined? What about the promotion of specialized school forms that were supposed to help children with problems in school? Look at the austerity programs of the states; these areas are affected too. Instead of investing precisely here – after all, it is our future – cuts and cancellations are happening here as well. Instead of prospects, concepts include making higher school forms more expensive – as if money were a guarantee of competence.

The fiasco in both the school system and vocational training is a glaring deficiency in our society, one that is no longer willing to build its own future, but instead prefers to smash everything and sell itself out.

I found the original article at TAZ.

Microsoft's FAT charges

Great. Microsoft wants to exploit patents in the area of the clunky FAT file system. When will Microsoft take action against FAT implementations in open systems? The whole thing is absurd. File systems are standards for data exchange; charging licenses for them is completely absurd. Especially since the implementation of FAT is so primitive that even at the time of its invention, the actual inventive achievement couldn't have been particularly high...

At Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) there's the original article.

rsync over the network vulnerable

Oh man, not a good week.

At heise online news there's the original article.

What The Copywright Law Really Says

If someone is interested in the drivel that Darl McBride is spouting, here's a link to an open letter from SCO. Absurd to the point of ridiculousness, the way he spins things together. In any case, the GPL in this case isn't about some derived higher rights, but about explicit licenses that the authors of software willfully define for their own works. I hardly believe that the US Constitution can be used to interpret an author's copyright in such a way that the author themselves can't decide on the license under which they release their work. That would be too absurd even by American standards, I think.

Quite apart from the fact that SCO itself explicitly used the GPL — they never said that the GPL was illegal and invalid. Because if it really were, under what right would SCO have been allowed to distribute Linux at all?

What's really shocking about this is that this edifice of lies is actually succeeding on the stock market and the SCO stock — which has absolutely no backing in any form in its core business or products — is being kept high. I'm hoping that the stock market will eventually realize what garbage this is and hopefully the stock value will plummet into the abyss before (or even better in the middle of) the proceedings. I'd like to see the faces of the lawyers who at the moment probably still have millions in their eyes, and then suddenly only see blanks.

At XMLMania.com - Google News Search: SCO I found the original article.

The American Dissident

A report on the occasion of his 75th birthday about Noam Chomsky - a remarkable person both as a linguist and as a political figure. And as a critic of the US government, definitely a different caliber than Michael Moore.

At Telepolis News you can find the original article.

Germany is Looking for the Super Blog - Without Me

Sorry, as incompatible the Shockwave Rider is with Communities, that's how incompatible I am with Awards. I just find them ridiculous.

At Der Schockwellenreiter there's the original article.

GROKLAW - SCO's Own Involvement in the Alleged License Violations

All four areas (SMP, Journaled Filesystems, NUMA, and RCU) that SCO claims were stolen were knowingly distributed by SCO themselves under the GPL (with their Linux product), explicitly promoted, and supported by employees and even actively enhanced and improved through patches by Christoph Hellwig in person. I believe SCO can expect a few problems in court.

Here's the original article.

Kuhl: Donations came from Möllemann

No wonder - of course Möllemann wasn't solely responsible for the whole mess. The FDP has some skeletons in the closet. But the fact that Möllemann just slapped a million in cash on the table, that's something. Somehow I imagine dimmed lighting, smoky, raspy voices, cigar smoke. Maybe even a henchman in the background cleaning his fingernails with a switchblade.

But it probably happened much less romantically and much more mundanely than I imagine...

At WDR.de there's the original article.

Brand: Heras wants to Liberty

Wow. That would be a bombshell for the next Tour. Not only strong, motivated rivals who finally want to beat Armstrong, but also his strongest helper as a new competitor? Armstrong should already be thinking about how he'll get through a Tour like that. After all, Heras was not insignificant in some of his successes. And in the mountains, he's one of those who – if he's in good form – can definitely keep up. Even if he looked a bit thin against Armstrong and Ullrich in the mountains at the last Tour.

So let's summarize who could have ambitions for the throne: Hamilton certainly after his gigantic fourth place last year. Vinokurov definitely, his dominant third place and his fighting spirit last year were a clear sign. Beloki will certainly maybe still be a bit wobbly after his crash, but motivated for sure – after all, he kept up fantastically until his crash last year. And of course Jan Ullrich, who probably finally wants to break Armstrong's streak.

And then all the up-and-comers and the second tier – if one of them rides a good Tour, he can mix it up well. I'm thinking of the Euskatel captains for example, or Heras. I'm starting to get really excited about the next Tour, it could be really exciting.

At RADSPORT-NEWS.COM - News Overview you can find the original article.

USA threaten 'rogue states' with consequences

Fitting for the Christmas season, the saber-rattling of the world's largest rogue state (hey, the US government provided that definition, and I can't help it if it perfectly applies to themselves).

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

Bug in Linux kernel enabled break-in to Debian server

Although an unpleasant problem, it's good that you discovered it - so it can be fixed. So it's time for another round of kernel updates.

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Dolphin Blood Turns the Sea Deep Red

Great. Instead of throwing the dolphin slaughterers in jail, it's the ones who want to save the dolphins that get caught. The responsible Japanese authorities have suffered complete mental damage

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

License plate warning letter issuer withdraws claims against domain holder

Well, a classic case of pissing against the wind

At heise online news there's the original article.

Pharma Company Becomes Main Sponsor of BDR

Doping Drugs Becoming Cheaper?

At RADSPORT-NEWS.COM - Nachrichten-Gesamtübersicht you can find the original article.

Apache: mod_auth_remote

Nice Module - instead of checking a URL locally on Apache for permissions, a second request is sent to another server and its check is used. This way Apache can link the authorization for static paths to the authorization system of e.g. a Zope. Otherwise there was often the problem that you couldn't move static content to an Apache (to use its performance) if this content should be under Zope's permission management. With mod auth remote this now works, at least if you use Apache 2.

I found the original article at Channel 'python'.

Leica Digilux 2

The rumor mill was right - the Digilux 2 is a Panasonic Lumix LC1. With the specified data and a very nice appearance, in my opinion. Nice device, nice technical specs. I especially like the classic operation of the camera. Now all that's missing is a nice price. But that will probably be typical Leica again, definitely beyond the 1000 euro mark. But it's interesting nonetheless, Leica's marketing of the analog digital camera I think fits well. At Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) you can find the original article.

Toil and sacrifice - for the German fatherland

A little something about the new patriotism that politicians are demanding. I already hate the word patriotism itself—you can't have it without nationalism, and wrapping it in neoliberal or neoconservative packaging doesn't help either. But then again, stupid blather and empty phrases are basically the political program at the moment ... And of course there are lies: just read the New York Times commentary in the article about Germany as a business location: In addition to low tax rates and wages, state subsidies and weak unions, scaled-back social systems and private provision, it now also includes education, qualification and the promotion of talent (manpower) to make Germany fit for the knowledge society and global competition. But of course we have to keep cutting corporate tax rates, reducing social contributions (and cutting social benefits), and naturally weakening unions so we remain competitive. That's what the politicians say, so it must be true.

At Telepolis News you can find the original article.

SPD working group: "Film industry displays contempt for humanity"

Well, anyone should have already recognized from their previous behavior that they have a contemptuous view of humanity. The advertising campaign is just the latest escalation of all this filth.

When business associations value themselves and their supposed rights higher than law and society, then one shouldn't be surprised by such actions - these aren't slip-ups, no derailments, these are clear expressions of opinion. The heads of the film industry truly are this contemptuous of humanity.

This was just as much not a slip-up as Hohmann's speech...

At heise online news there's the original article.

Bill Kearney: MacOS doesn't cut it in the Enterprise

Oh yes, here we go again, another one who thinks he knows what he's talking about. Well, if he had specified somewhere in his tirade against Apple networking which part of networking he actually means, then maybe one could find his comments worth considering, but like this? Does he mean AppleTalk? AppleTalk/IP? Samba? NFS? Or one of the many alternative protocols that the Apple Finder can mount directly like FTP or WebDAV? But it's much easier to make sweeping statements against Apple, you're in good company with so-called analysts. And if he really said stuff like that 10 years ago, he was talking just as stupid nonsense then as he is today.

And where does he see the solution? Of course in Windows protocols. The poor sap: with Longhorn, Microsoft will give him another kick in the ass and he gets to start all over again. But surely he'll still claim that his approach was the right one. Anyway, my life is too precious to waste on such nonsense.

Here's the original article.

MkSQL - SQL for Metakit in Python

Could be interesting at some point - maybe I could mix that into the Python Desktop Server so that you can also access databases with SQL? In any case, it would be a worthwhile tool to make it easier for people to get started with databases - Metakit is rather unusual.

Here's the original article.

What the heck is: A type

An interesting breakdown of what a type actually is and the various terms in that context (static typing, type inference, and everything else) from the programmer of the Perl 6 virtual machine (Parrot). I find it fascinating to see how increasingly more elements are being discussed and implemented in Perl6 development that have been considered standard in the Lisp world since the 80s. Mainstream programming will eventually catch up to the Lisp world.

The original article can be found at Squawks of the Parrot - here.

The Best Comes from North Rhine-Westphalia

Adenauer, the greatest Kohl of all time, as a role model? No thanks.

At WDR.de you can find the original article.