Programming in Space

"Debugging a program running on a $100M piece of hardware that is 100 million miles away is an interesting experience. Having a read-eval-print loop running on the spacecraft proved invaluable in finding and fixing the problem."

http://gigamonkeys.com/book/lather-rinse-repeat-a-tour-of-the-repl.html

Citroën Berlingo Electrique

"What has ZERO EMISSIONS can do up to 60 MILES PER CHARGE can go 65 MPH can cost LESS THAN 70p PER CHARGE costs NOTHING for Road Fund Licence* is EXEMPT from MOT** is EXEMPT from the London Congestion Charge and is VIRTUALLY SILENT?"

http://www.berlingo-e.co.uk/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Berlingo_Electrique

Life Expectancy

"The primary goal for sustainable development is for people to live longer, more productive, more satisfying lives. This is impossible if they do not have the resources to ensure the health and well being of themselves and their families. Poverty has a major impact on life expectancy. When governments and families cannot afford enough quality health care, education, and nutritious food, people cannot reach their full potential, either in productivity or length and quality of life. In addition, extreme poverty increases the likelihood of war and political instability, which threatens lives--and the quality of life-- as well."

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/

1880, the Emperor Guangxu childhood in the care of the Royal guards on horseback

1880, the Emperor Guangxu childhood in the care of the Royal guards on horseback

Original: http://www.lzpian.com/photos/153/

Google translation

The Bureau of Communication

"Let that which is unsaid be said"

Holiday, grievance, apology, gratitude ...

http://www.bureauofcommunication.com/

Micro-hydro Clean, Reliable Renewable Energy

"Micro hydropower was the mainstay of power generation for hundreds of years before fossil fuels were harnessed at the start of the industrial revolution.

The UK has tens of thousands of old mill sites waiting to be reactivated using modern micro hydro technology, with the potential to provide a useful contribution to the UK’s power needs and a steady income from electricity sales for the owners."

http://www.hydrogeneration.co.uk/

KDE 4 Brings Improvements Galore to the Linux Desktop

"The next generation of KDE, the popular Linux desktop environment, has arrived. KDE 4.0 features a completely re-written core with new multimedia libraries, better hardware abstraction and desktop eye candy that puts Windows Vista to shame.

Unlike Windows and Mac OS X, which both feature only one desktop environment, Linux users have long had a variety of options at their disposal. While all the options have their adherents, the two most popular desktops have long been Gnome (the default for Ubuntu Linux) and KDE."

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/01/kde-4-brings-im.html

Also:

"KDE is an international technology team that creates Free Software for desktop and portable computing. Among KDE's products are a modern desktop system for Linux and UNIX platforms, comprehensive office productivity and groupware suites and hundreds of software titles in many categories including Internet and web applications, multimedia, entertainment, educational, graphics and software development. KDE software is translated into more than 60 languages and is built with ease of use and modern accessibility principles in mind. KDE4's full-featured applications run natively on Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows and Mac OS X"

http://www.kde.org/

And:

"KDE 4.0 rocks in a number of ways. Whether one looks at the new frameworks (solid, phonon, akonadi et al) or the revamped existing ones (kconfig getting multiple back end support, the UI-less kdecore), or examines the apps like okular or kdeedu or the games or dolphin or ksnapshot or konsole (ok, I won't list every app) or many of the new workspace features like composite and widgets or the new artwork or ... you get the picture. There's a lot that is just amazing."

http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2008/01/talking-bluntly.html

Becta in the UK says “no no” to OOXML

"According to an article in PublicTechnology.net, “Becta advises on Microsoft Vista & Office 2007 for schools & colleges”, upgrades to Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007."

Including;

"Pupils, teachers and parents should also be made aware of the wide range of free-to-use products currently available and on how to use and access them."

http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=2013

Also:

“We remain concerned about the approach taken to supporting ODF in Office 2007. While the product includes the functionality to read virtually every other relevant file format ‘out of the box’, the processes for dealing with ODF files are very cumbersome. We identified ten steps that users would need to take in order to locate and install the converter that gives Office 2007 the ability to access ODF files and note that the arrangements for opening and saving ODF files in Microsoft Office 2007 are not intuitive in that they deviate from the normal approach familiar to users. We believe that these arrangements present sufficient technical difficulties for the majority of users to make them disinclined to use competitor products and this may weaken competition.”

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/01/10/becta-and-odf/

And:

"The Becta report called on PC suppliers to offer schools the choice of at least one open-source office-productivity suite. It recommended the use of free software, pointing to the successful development of Google Apps, StarOffice and the free version of IBM's Lotus Symphony."

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39292043,00.htm

OOXML Questions Microsoft Cannot Answer in Geneva

"Today our society depends upon an enormous variety of software applications and easy access to information in order to function on a day-to-day basis. Everyone knows the pain of moving office documents around. There is a level of interoperability that is missing in today’s world, and OOXML’s adoption will just perpetuate and worsen this problem. And we all want interoperability. We also all want the ability to implement a standard. A standard that can be neither implemented nor used is useless."

http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/ooxml-questions-microsoft-cannot-answer-in-geneva.html

SQLite Manager

"Manage any SQLite database on your computer. An intuitive heirarchical tree showing database objects. Helpful dialogs to manage tables, indexes, views and triggers. You can browse and search the tables, as well as add, edit and delete the records. Facility to execute any sql query. A dropdown menu helps with the sql syntax thus making writing sql easier. Easy access to common operations through menu, toolbars, buttons and context-menu. Export tables/views in csv or xml format"

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5817