Sadly, this is just for a few weeks…

Sorry, that was the nearest book – page 56 is a blank page. Second nearest then.

“The variable’s name must be a valid identifier”

Rules:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence
* Post that sentence along with these instructions
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

(via John’s blog)

Somehow Emmentaler, Gruyere and the many other cheeses from Switzerland got standardized into ‘Swiss cheese’.

And that ‘Swiss cheese’ often tastes best when imported – from Ireland for instance:

It tastes quite good – like a young Emmentaler, but as if it was made from sheep’s milk rather than cow’s milk. Irish Swiss cheese – what a concept!

I must note that it is easy to buy the various different kinds of imported (Swiss) cheeses – but they are of course more expensive.

People pay a lot of money for rides like this in Disney Land

… while commenting on a particularly bumpy ride on the green line.

When cooked, it smells like spinach and the leaves taste like spinach too. But it has the same effect on your teeth as rhubarb!

Of course, the real question is why it is called Swiss chard… Not even Wikipedia provides that answer.

Happily, Quorn products not only contain mycoprotein, but also have that great taste you’re looking for. That’s why, in Europe, where people are rather peculiar about the way things taste, Quorn is the number one selling meat-free brand.

Not only does it taste great, Quorn even made me smile tonight

So how nice it was to get some mail the other day from Sony, addressed to me (name misspelled), as ‘EDP Manager’ (what on earth is an ‘EDP’ Manager?) of a group I used to be a part of, addressed to my parent’s house. The only way they could have gotten this name/title/group/address combination is from the whois database, combined with an serious dose of imagination. Oh, yeah, they got the language wrong too – they sent it in French.
The domain name in question is a .org. This is what the .org WHOIS service says:

…
The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry
for informational purposes only, and Public Interest Registry does not guarantee its
accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree
that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no
circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise
support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than
the data recipient’s own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume,
automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of
Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably
necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. All
rights reserved. Public Interest Registry reserves the right to modify these terms at any
time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.
…

We’ve established that I’m not a Sony customer. The mail they sent me is commercial bulk advertising. That means that Sony in is blatant breach of the Public Interest Registry whois policy. Either they got the data from the whois database themselves, or they bought my information from a sleazy company that did.
What a wonderful new reason to dislike Sony.

I’m very much looking forward to what will come out of this. The chip as such is pretty amazing (32 threads, 64 bits!) – I can only dream of what people will do with the design. This could be our ultimate defense against all the DRM crap Intel & co are pushing down our collective throats. I certainly wouldn’t mind running Debian or Ubuntu on one of those puppies.

Still one more day in Switzerland – I’m heading back to Boston on Thursday. It’ll be a busy next few weeks between my brother and his wife visiting, the FSF annual membership meeting, and Linuxworld. And a short (business) trip to Berkeley thrown in as well for good measure