Daily Archives: March 18, 2009

How to Make a Republican Firing Squad

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First, draw a circle. Then, assemble your most incompetent boobs and make sure anyone who is competent you undermine. Such as the case of RNC Chairman Tom Steele … keep him in power only long enough to demonstrate (because you’ve totally undermined him) that his sort should be avoided in the future, once and for all.

The most amazing bit of news we’ve heard since the Party of Racism cynically and quite temporarily appointed a black man to lead them, is that Minnesota’s Norm Coleman could be appointed to replace Steele. The reaction of one Democratic Party official when asked what the Dems are going to do about this: “When the Republicans are forming a circular firing squad, the last thing we’re going to do is step into the middle.”

The rumor was first posted on Politico, and is discussed in more detail here.

What I think actually happened was this. Top Republican Party officials were talking about the future of the party while riding the subway into the city from their posh Virginia neighborhood. Nearby, a crafty reporter was listening in, trying to get some news to report on Politico.

One of the party officials said to the other: “Let’s convince Norm Coleman to leave the Republican Party” but the reporter heard this as “Let’s convene Norm Coleman to lead the Republican Party” because just then the subway, which is normally quite quite in DC (seriously … those trains whisper compared to NY and Boston), went rattling over a bad piece of track.

That is the only possible explanation.

Scotland Police Totally Screw The Pooch

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Police officers in northern Scotland have been accused of vandalising a Bronze Age site through ignorance after they removed bones and textiles from the 4,000-year-old burial chamber, apparently because they thought they were investigating a crime scene.

The burial chamber, or cist, was discovered intact, in a field near Oykel Bridge in Sutherland. The area is rich in Bronze Age remains, but this find was of huge importance to archaeologists. Unlike the vast chambered cairns of the earlier Neolithic period, burials from the metal-working people of the Bronze Age are modest affairs with artefacts such as pottery most commonly found.

more

False Starts and Cold Snaps

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False starts and cold snaps. A sign of warm weather followed by an icy slap in the face. That’s a Minnesota spring. Native Minnesotans pretend this does not bother them, but it does. I can see it in their eyes, and every now and then someone will let out a plaintive wail or even just grunt to themselves when they hit the cold outdoors. That’s how I know it bothers even the wizened old timers who grew up before indoor heating and learned to love the winter by walking to school across the frozen lake every day…uphill in both directions….


Read the rest at QM.com

50 Successful Open Source Projects That Are Changing Medicine

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Open source healthcare is forging forward quickly on the Internet. But, fast developments often produce many failures. But, many medicinal open source projects that have gained success development. This success shows that open source alone is not the solitary factor in development. Instead, look to great management, public relations, marketing and a sound program that stands up under the scrutiny of a growing number of peer users and, often, patients.

……… read it here …

This is actually quite interesting . Not every “project” is a linux app, as one might expect with the “Open Source” reference. But Open Source is not LInux, after all. Some of these projects are file or data format standards, some are webby project, and some are regular apps.

Have a look.

Gnome vs. KDE

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No, this is not a post about which one is better. Not yet, anyway. I just want to mention that today, March 18th, the next version of Gnome is expected to come out, and yesterday, March 17th, I finished my personal test run of KDE 4.whatever.

I like KDE … the new version …. to recommend it and to seriously consider using it just for fun on some computer somewhere. But my main desktop will remain Gnome because, well, it has not annoyed me and it works.

Keep an eye out for the new Gnome. Details here.

Economy + sucks = Linux 4TW

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As has been predicted, with the economy in a down turn, businesses (and everybody) are abandoning sucky proprietary software for free and excellent OpenSource software …

A February survey of IT managers by IDC indicated that hard times are accelerating the adoption of Linux. The open source operating system will emerge from the recession in a stronger data center position than before, concluded an IDC white paper.

Sixty-five percent of the 330 respondents said they plan to increase Linux server workloads by 10% or more this year. Sixty-three percent said they will increase their use of Linux on the desktop by more than 10% this year, although such an increase would still probably represent a miniscule share of all desktops. Forty-nine percent said they expect Linux will be their primary server platform within five years.

… continued …

Republican Circle Jerk Caught On Tape

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Illegal aliens are swarming across the border of Michele Bachmann’s district. Which is on the border of …. nothing, actually, it is a ‘landlocked’ district.

Uffda. Take a breather. OK, ready? Let’s keep going a minute more…

Can you handle more? Probably not, and that’s OK. Nobody really can. But if you want, we’ve got it:

Who is the poor guy who has to stand there and listen to this crap?