the lake

i'm finished with lj (although i will still stalk my friends page). i'm now blogging over there --->

but i don't bring you fire. i thought about that, but then noticed someone had already done it. bastard.

what i bring is almost as useful, if not more. we now have induction cookers, so the need for fire has dwindled a lot. these days, what we really need is a way to post stuff to twitter.

i had this idea when i saw several people posting to the rglondon twitter stream. sometimes the tweets would have a bit identifying the person who posted them ([bob]), sometimes they wouldn't. this annoyed me. i started thinking about it, and realised that probably they were all sharing the password for the twitter account. which seemed bad. of course, it's not like i have nou or rjw1 on speed-dial, so i set out to make things right (tm).

as it happens, i'd been wanting to do something using xmpp for some time, seeing as pedro has been doing really cool shit (tm) with it and waxes lyrical about how it's the future and all that; and i also wanted to learn anyevent and forget that poe ever existed (not that i don't like poe, i do, but anyevent's freedom to choose, well, everything, appealed to me). so this seemed like a good opportunity to SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WRITE SOME CODE.

which i did.

it's not up on cpan yet, but it'll be rsn. in the mean time, if you're interested in this you have either my email, jid, or phone number; so feel free to send in those bug reports.

note: perl 5.10.0 on darwin segfaults, i'm looking into this. if you run this on darwin, use 5.8.8. on linux you can use either one.

update: it's now on cpan.

pj harvey / john parish, april 20

as it happens, i grew tired of soup and english breakfasts (i do still make soup on mondays to have for dinner, along with cheese, ham, and bread, during the week; and i hope to cook a full english now and again).

so i turned to cas clarke's "quick and easy cooking for one" (ridiculously cheap, btw), which nou had recommended i got. i picked 3 dishes and spent a good couple of hours buying the ingredients i was missing.

i ended up being unable to find sun-dried tomatoes (even the temple that is m&s failed me), so i improvised (i know, crazy, right?) and grilled a couple of small tomatoes instead. this is how the final product looked (after around 20 minutes, 5 more than what the book said, due to said grilled tomatoes and my lack of practice in chopping things up, particularly parsley):



it was very tasty, and i'm very pleased with the results. stay tuned for the following episodes!

mario kart: 2750-4743-6911
guitar hero world tour: 4940-9065-0914

who's the anti-social git now, huh?

my fingers hurt. that's because i was stupid and got a semi-acoustic guitar, with steel strings, because i could hook it up to my guitar amp. and i've got an amp because it came with the electric guitar (a yamaha pacifica, if you must know), and is available because the pacifica is plugged into the alesis io2 interface all the time. and steel strings hurt like crazy the first few days (not playing the electric guitar conventionally made this a non-issue so far). so i'm typing using only the rightmost 4 fingers of the right hand, if you feel like the post is taking its time to get to the point, that's why.

some time ago i decided to start cooking, as opposed to microwaving shit. so i did what any sane person would do: i asked kake about it. she recommended i got "quick and easy cooking for one", by cas clarke - i found it through the lovely abebooks. i have yet to try any recipe from it, but that's besides the point. i got it, i read the introduction and the first couple of recipes - pancakes and mushrooms stuffed with sausage - and promptly parked it on the kitchen shelf. then i started making soup.

m&s sell these really handy bags with all sorts of veggies already chopped up and ready to go. get the water boiling in a pan, drop the bag's contents in it, and presto, 20 minutes later you have soup. this got boring after the 2nd time, so i upped my game by buying a hand blender. ah! i no longer had to endure the effort of pureeing the stuff with a fork. plus, it was using electricity and i'm a big fan of anything that uses electricity.

then the other day i had breakfast at dave's. as i watched him cook it, i thought "hmm, i could do this...", so i did, and it was good. it wasn't really like the one true breakfast (as i might have mentioned before) but it certainly was good enough, so much so that i'm doing it again this sunday, but adding more bacon. and pork and apple sausages. this really boosted my ego, so yesterday as i went shopping, i shunned the wonder veggie bags and got *real whole veggies*. i know, crazy! so the soup that's boiling right now had its components lovingly peeled and chopped by yours truly: 1 onion, garlic, carrots, 3 large potatos, a handful of running beans, 3 or 4 aspargus and a liberal amount of broccoli. to this i added 2 table spoons of coarse salt, and i will add olive oil after i puree it.

on the way home from the shops i stopped at robert dyas to get a splatter stopper (frying things can make a mess of your kitchen, as i painfully learned) and they had "jamie's ministry of food" with a 30% discount, so i bought that too. it has now been inserted into my delicious library, and, once i read the introduction, it will go to its rightful place on the kitchen shelf, next to "quick and easy cooking for one".

so there. fear my l337 c00king skillz.

05/12/2008
----------
* 5:30: wake up. the cat immediately starts biting the hand that, literally, feeds him.
* 5:35 fell asleep and dreamed i was having sex with an ex-girlfriend
* 6:40: wake up feeling pretty good, go down and play a couple of gigs in guitar hero
* 7:45: shower
* 8:20: head to the office
* 8:45: arrive at the office and have breakfast
* 9:20: hand in my resignation. 5 minutes later the ex-boss decides it's pointless to keep me around for a month, with which i agree, so i pack my stuff and leave. it's been emotional.
* 11:15: at home relaxing on the couch, play a level in super mario galaxy and a couple more gigs in guitar hero. i beat zakk wylde and ted nugent in what's called a "guitar battle", further confirming my destiny as a rock giant.
* 12:00: i have tea, and get a call from a recruiter.
* 12:10: world of warcraft
* 13:30: shopping for food
* 14:15: i cook myself a full english breakfast the way $deity intended. i blame kake and dave.
* 14:42: post to lj. i blame joão.
* 14:50 world of warcraft

so, it was my birthday the other day. a friend of mine told me i should get a ps3 and rock band, apparently oblivious to the fact that i had just turned 37.

believe it or not, this made quite a difference. while pondering whether or not to get the ps3, i thought about my friends, and realised that most of them are happily married, have kids and dogs and are saving up for the next car. i figured it was time i stopped following my childish impulses, and changed my life.

coincidentally, a friend of mine had lent me paul mckenna's "i can change your life" a few months back, so i went looking for the book. i found it (yay delicious library!) and set it aside in order to return it to him, and made a mental note to never again ask him for books.

don't fret, i didn't run out and get a ps3, i'm better than that. i went to hmv, looked with disdain at the pile of ps3s and xbox 360s, and thought to myself "that part of my life is gone now, i'll be 40 in 3 years". instead, i took the money, thought about my friend billy abbott and how he became a rock god, and got a wii, and guitar hero world tour. i am it.

rodrigo leão + the durutti column, november 6

so there i was playing with korg's ds-10 (teh. awesomestest. thing. evah.) when between the beats comes this drone talking about "terrrists" and how someone was weak on "terrism" and that hard choices must be made between our liberty and someone blowing up planes and whatnot and killing our children, and i'm like "fuck this shit bbc, re-runs of bush's speeches?"

it turns out it was jacqui fucking smith.

i've been further away from pledging allegiance to bets just so i can kick these cocksuckers out.

From: info@soundcopyright.eu
Subject: Make sure MEPs hear your views on copyright term extension - get in touch today

The European Parliament has begun preparing its opinion on the European Commission's flawed proposal to extend the term of copyright protection for sound recordings. MEPs have been appointed to act as rapporteurs, who will guide the committees that will recommend how Parliament should vote. Your MEPs need to know that their voters are concerned and paying attention - get in touch with them to let them know your concerns. To help you do this we've prepared a guide to lobbying your MEPs (1) and a briefing pack (2).

(1) http://www.soundcopyright.eu/system/files/MEP+lobbying+tips.pdf
(2) http://www.soundcopyright.eu/system/files/Briefing.pdf

Lobbyists for term extension are making the case to MEPs inside the European Parliament right now. But your voice is stronger than any lobbyist. We can't overstate it: the most important thing you can do to stop term extension is to let your MEPs know your concerns so they an see and hear your side. Be aware also that MEPs can be deluged with information on many topics and appreciate being treated as individuals.If you want to travel to Brussels to meet your MEPs and need help - hit reply. If you have a story or an interest that we should know about - hit reply. Now is the time to speak, so use your voice wisely!

We'll keep you updated of major developments, but you can track the proposal on the Parliament website (3) and the details of relevant committees and MEP members are also available (4). Currently Legal Affairs (JURI) are leading. Three other committees - Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO); Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE); and Culture and Education (CULT), will also help.

(3) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/FindByProcnum.do?lang=2&procnum=COD/2008/0157
(4) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/committeesList.do?language=EN

In the meantime the Directive is also being discussed by representatives of Member States in the Council of Ministers. And criticism of the Commission's proposal is emerging all over Europe.

The world leading Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law (5) in Munich, has released a statement concluding that prolonging the term of protection "cannot be justified from any point of view." (6)

(5) www.ip.mpg.de
(6) http://www.ip.mpg.de/en/data/pdf/stellungnahme-bmj-2008-09-10-def_eng.pdf

Professor Bernt Hugenholtz, Director of the Institute for Information Law (IViR) in Amsterdam, and one of the Commission's own advisers, has accused Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso of intentionally misleading policy-makers with the proposal (7).

(7) http://www.ivir.nl//news/Open_Letter_EC.pdf

Pekka Gronow, sound archivist, author of "An International History of the Recording Industry", and adjunct professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Helsinki, has written and concluded that performers benefit very little from the proposed extension ("in most cases the resulting sums will not even cover bank charges"). (8)

(8) http://blogit.yle.fi/node/2234

And of course, ORG have written to the authorities in the UK, explaining exactly why the proposal makes no sense (9).

(9) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/uploads/080829_ukipo_ectermextension.pdf


Thanks again - we'll keep you updated.


The Sound Copyright Campaign

Run by the Open Rights Group and EFF

i am surrounded by a wall of boxes in the living room of the new house, it feels like i'm inside a cray except it's brown instead of blue. it took me almost 1 hour to find 1 of my 3 wireless routers, but i have now placed my first take away order. life is good.

will someone please uninstall the gimp from steve's computer?

kthxbai.

echo chamber, blah blah blah... great news.

mad pc pinko commies give gordon brown a rest to diss mobile me.

after 7 years of working on a mac day in, day out, i'm back to using linux on the desktop (debian etch, if you must know). to make matters worse, i can't run windowmaker because company policy is gnome desktop (management, changing workstations, etc. i get it, in fact i may have suggested similar policies in the past for the exact same reasons, but it's frustrating because gnome desktop is an awful piece of crap. in fact, nothing beats windowmaker, which is what i know). i don't want to talk about it anymore, it's really depressing. oh, the fonts... argh!

i got a very nice microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard 4000 (dudes, you've really got this product naming thing nailed down!) which i'm getting used to (straight off the bat, it really makes a huge difference on my wrists to have proper support, and the fingers aren't complaining either, although i still miss a keystroke here and there).

anyway, this keyboard has a shitload of extra keys, which aren't used by gnome, afaict (even though the keyboard is listed in the preferences... at least in one of the 6 or 7 places where you can configure various unrelated things). which sucks, because i'm very weary about leaving emacs (and there certainly are a number of new toys since i've last used it). so here's the first bit i got into my .emacs, which uses the back and forward keys in the keyboard (conveniently placed below the space bar) to jump to the corresponding parens, bracket, etc. (you get the key code emacs sees by entering "c-h k" and then pressing the key you're interested in, in this case the back and forward buttons):


(global-set-key (kbd "<XF86Back>") 'backward-sexp)
(global-set-key (kbd "<XF86Forward>") 'forward-sexp)


i really missed emacs. it's a shame it doesn't run on bare metal.

at least microsoft pay for the ideas they want to call their own. the fsf just bullies everyone around and simply appropriates whatever it is they believe will further their cause.

linux doesn't owe anything to the fsf. the fsf did nothing to help linux until they realised it could boost their reputation. they were muddling along just fine with hurd (i hear it boots now) and let their lunch be stolen by the kid from finland and his terminal emulator (which speaks volumes about the fsf's ability to handle software projects). and for all the talk about the tools, the gcc fiasco is a good story, too. you see, gcc became a stagnant cesspool of, well, nothing, and it was forked into egcs so that people that really wanted to get things done could move on. when the users started to jump ship, the fsf did what they do best, adopted egcs and started calling it the "gnu compiler collection". and by the way, why doesn't the fsf demand mac os x be called gnu/mac os x and solaris gnu/solaris? they certainly use the same tools linux does.

these retards have now found another way to get the press to look at them (since they can't come up with good software): attack apple, hoping some of the press coverage goes their way. started discretely some time ago, with some fud here and there, and finally lost all shame with their anti-iphone piece (which is basically a list of lies and half-truths). and their latest stunt, let's jam the genius bars? is this their idea of building credibility? you don't have to answer that.

don't the fucking morons running the show realise that at most they hurt everyone else that actually has to make a living or really enjoys using and developing free and open source software? i wouldn't expect anything from the idiotic sheep following them, a religious idiot is a religious idiot is a religious idiot, but rumour has it they have intelligent people at the helm. certainly intelligent enough to seize other people's work as their own.

p.s. on a personal note, it saddens me to see that sapo actually promotes the portuguese version of the circus. i know sapo is built on top of free software, and staffed with people that really do believe in and promote the use of free software (and have contributed regularly throughout the years, both financially and with code), do they really want/need to be linked with these clowns?

"After he hung up the phone, it occurred to me that I had just been handed, by Mr. Jobs himself, the very information he was refusing to share with the shareholders who have entrusted him with their money.

You would think he’d want them to know before me. But apparently not."

you got that wrong, numskull: what jobs cares about are the ny times readers and, by extension, apple's stockholders. you're just a tool (and one that can't legally own apple stock).

(via gruber)