Waffle

Testing, again.

I'm not much of a techy. The only time I will try to change settings on my computer is when things go horribly wrong. And recently it did: I don't have a separate dvd-player, so I watch them on my laptop. Suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, some dvd's were giving Powerdvd trouble: error code f4d41436: this copy protected disk can not be played when the tv out function is enabled. *wtf* I thought, I just rented this goddamn dvd from the video store to watch it on my laptop. There's nothing fucking illegal about that, is there? Well someone seems to think so. I googled the error and got the solution on this very helpful forum. Seems XP Service Pack 2 added some unasked for copy protection. Thanks Bill. Fuck you very much.

My big fear was that people would read the line "Felix velut porcus in sterco" in today's Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan comic and yell at me for getting the Latin wrong. Now, though, it looks more likely that most readers simply skim over it because they don't understand it. Not even well enough to make a guess at it, I mean.
Answers below the cut.

(more...)

I tried to upgrade to MT 3.14 today. The upgrade got b0rked, badly, and I had to roll it back after 5 hours of alternately waiting for answers from Movable Type's support department and implementing their suggestions. They've been very helpful, but I have nothing to show for those 5 hours of my time, which considering how the rest of the week has gone is very discouraging.

I will try again when I have another few hours of uninterrupted idle time. This may not be soon. Until the upgrade is done, comments for new posts will continue to be set to "None" unless I have a good reason to allow them for any post. Not that I expect to put up many new posts either, because I'm a bit fed up with blogging for the time being.

Now let's post this and see if the system is still working as it should.

I've bought two sound-related items today: a V-string for my turntable (a Phillips whose origin is lost in the mists of time) and a SB Audigy LS soundcard for my computer, because the onboard sound card is a piece of crap.
Contrary to assurances from the shop, I'm now finding that the Audigy isn't easily supported under linux, although it can be supported with a little work.
In my experiences, a little work tends to balloon into a lot of work, so before I even start, I'm opening a comments thread for tips for installing newer versions of alsa sound and resolving the recursive dependency problems that I will undoubtedly encounter. I'll update this post with my experiences and problems as they happen, below the fold.

Hallelujah.

(more...)

More interesting news from Dutch politics: Ayaan Hirsi Ali has returned to the Second Chamber, with a speech to the press in which she pledged to continue her work, insisted that she did not intend primarily to hurt the feelings of groups within the population and made the point that her work fighting for the emancipation of immigrant women is simply a continuation of her social involvement from before she became a full-time politician. She also paid tribute to filmmaker Theo van Gogh (quick summary from listening to the press conference on the radio).

Hirsi Ali appears to have lost none of her fighting spirit. Good.

Lose the Delusion writes:

Eighteen bloody days! That is all it took before Robert Kilroy-Silk made the news in 2005.[...] Anyway, having failed in his ambitions to lead UKIP, he has been desperately trying to find other parties to lead. And, guess what? No one wants him. Faced with no other choice, he is now talking about setting up his own party.... And, truth be told, I would just love to see how that goes. Despite his claims to have been 'inundated' with calls to go it alone, you just have to wonder what losers would join a party set up by someone no one else wanted?

Why, these losers of course. They turned up in droves for Pim Fortuyn. (Note: these particular losers are the ones who made it into Parliament in the 2003 elections, after the LPF had started its spectacular implosion from its 2002 heights of having, what was it again, 26 MPs. So within a larger pool of losers, these dweebs can be thought of as winners and survivors, but that's not saying much, and the implosion still hasn't ended.

In 2002, Pim Fortuyn first became the leader of a group of Dutch celebs, rejects and retirees from other parties and career second-stringers. When they tossed him out, he started up again with a bunch of third-stringers and real estate development industry goons. And he got 26 of them into Parliament. I'm sure mr. Kilroy-Silk will have no trouble finding people of equal quality or better.
(Hat tip: Nosemonkey)

At last, someone fights back against the Anti-Fun League. And what do you know, she's from ole Yoorp!

Athens chief fumes at US lewdness claims

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) - A clutch of complaints by U.S. viewers that the Athens Olympics opening ceremony featured lewd nudity has incensed the Games chief, who warned American regulators to back off from policing ancient Greek culture.

Gianna Angelopoulos warned the Federal Communications Commission watchdog, sensitive after a deluge of outrage when singer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed at a Super Bowl game, not to punish NBC television that aired the Games.

Male nudity, a woman's breast and simulated sex were the subjects of shrill complaints about the opening ceremony on August 13 which were posted by the FCC on its Web site.

"Far from being indecent, the opening ceremonies were beautiful, enlightening, uplifting and enjoyable," Angelopoulos wrote in a weekend commentary in the Los Angeles Times titled "Since When is Greece's Culture Obscene?"

"Greece does not wish to be drawn into an American culture war. Yet that is exactly what is happening," she said.

Complaints focused on a parade of actors portraying naked statues. Among them were the Satyr and the nude Kouros male statues, both emblems of ancient Greece's golden age.

[...]

"We also showed a couple enjoying their love of the Greek sea and each other. And we told the history of Eros, the god of love. Turning love, yearning and desire into a deity is an important part of our contribution to civilisation," Angelopoulos said.

The FCC, whose authority only extends to U.S. media, has said it is looking into complaints, nine of which were listed on its Web site, but it was not clear whether a formal investigation would be launched.

Angelopoulos, who said the handful of U.S. complaints were dwarfed by the 3.9 billion people who watched the ceremony, had a blunt message.

"[...] it is astonishingly unwise for an agency of the U.S. government to engage in an investigation that could label a presentation of the Greek origins of civilisation as unfit for television viewing."[...]

Another icon from my childhood has passed away. Fred Julsing was the brilliant cartoonist whose fairytale adaptations dazzled me when they ran in Malmberg Educational magazines Jippo and Taptoe in the early 1980s. Throughout his career, Julsing was under criticism for his writing and storytelling, but working with traditional stories like The Brave Little Tailor and The Pied Piper of Hameln, he got it right, to my pre-teen eyes. His visual imagination never failed to amaze, and his clear, bright lines and unusual figure designs, not to mention costume designs unlike any I've seen anywhere else, will stay with me until my dying day.

biography in Dutch with more pictures than the English-language version.
Julsing's new age art from the 1990s-2004.