michaelmaurer.net

FTA:
More than simple decoration, the images symbolically proclaim the wearer's background and rank within the complex social system of the jailed. E.g. each point on the star represents a year in prison.

Soviet researchers first discovered and studied this underground activity in the 1920s; photographs of prisoners from that period suggest an already elaborate and highly developed subculture.

As seen in Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts. (EDIT: Additional links for your perusal.)

30-minute-talk on the use of dating websites in Cameroon. Attempting to escape the poverty-stricken african nation, more and more women flock online looking for western husbands. Fibre-optic cables, Internet cafes and Photoshop provide the backdrop for a tale of poverty and prostitution. Part of the LIFT conference on technologies and social consequences, currently taking place in Geneva.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/pirate_bay_neo_nazi/print.html

FTA:
Carl Lundström is alleged to own 40 per cent of The Pirate Bay - the largest share - and gave it servers and bandwidth to get going.

Lundström was linked to a gang of skinheads that attacked Latin American tourists in Stockholm in the mid-1980s. Over the years, Lundström has switched his support from Keep Sweden Swedish to the far-right headbangers party New Democracy - but was thrown out for being too right wing. He's currently bankrolling 100 candidates for the Swedish equivalent of the BNP.

Grab the free demo of Hemisphere games' IGF Finalist and start absorbing stuff. The soundtrack is relaxing, the gameplay soothing and the visuals are quite nice, really. No chance of a heart attack due to lack of explosions and headshots, and that's a good thing.

The Fairtrade Fortnight on March 6 & 7 wants you to binge-eat bananas for a better world. Just so you know, "Bananas contain tryptophan and vitamin B6, known to help make you feel happy." Plus farmers' wages amount to about one Euro per day.

If you want to keep multiple copies of your site synchronized, check out rsync. Instead of uploading/downloading everything each backup, rsync makes a file-check and only transfers those items that have changed.

rsync -av -e ssh --delete /home/michael/public_html user@yoursite.com:/public_html/

It's that easy.

Two recent Linux-articles I wrote for futurezone.orf.at. The picture above was taken at Cafe Rüdigerhof in Vienna.

Debian 5.0 "Lenny" erschienen
Die fünfte Auflage der GNU/Linux-Distribution Debian überzeugt mit Stabilität, Sicherheit und freier Software. Ein ausgereiftes Paketmanagement sorgt für maßgeschneiderte Lösungen vom Desktop- bis zum Servereinsatz. Die Entwicklergemeinde von Debian, das auch als Grundlage für das populäre Ubuntu Linux dient, setzt dabei auf ausgiebige Qualitätssicherung statt brandaktuelle Software.

Ubuntu 8.10: Mehr Mobilität für Pinguine
Die neueste Version der populären Linux-Distribution Ubuntu zielt vor allem darauf ab, das Betriebssystem für den Einsatz auf Mobilcomputern attraktiver zu machen. Auch bei Sicherheit und Administration hat das System, das nun unter dem Zeichen des Steinbocks steht, viel zu bieten.

Went to the RUNCH Comics store on Kaiserstraße today, to get my monthly fix of PREVIEWS-sensory-overload-Magazine. They've resized again, according to the owner all those MARVEL-Comics don't sell anymore. People now prefer buying complete series in a trade paperback or hardcover, instead of opting for the 20-pages serialized stuff. Most of his customers seem to be Anime-loving 14-year olds anyway. And Magic, the card-trading-game, is apparently dead. :(

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/23/last_fm_denies_riaa_user_data/

FTA:
Last.fm has hit out at an uncorroborated report that alleged the music streaming website passed user data over to the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA).

....

'Whole story made up,' claims co-founder.

Source: unknown.

BME-interview with a 22-year old canadian Punk. You're looking at 20 hours worth of tattoos just for the head.

"How did your interest start, and when did you get your first tattoo?

Well, at first... I wanted to do the real deal... But I couldn’t peel my skin off... So I had to fake it."

Another batch of my minis, just can't get enough of them.

Kawaii desu :P

The dreadnought Peter painted. I commissioned the whole Black-Reach-box and his artwork is amazing.

"Much of what looks like rudeness in hacker circles is not intended to give offense. Rather, it's the product of the direct, cut-through-the-bullshit communications style that is natural to people who are more concerned about solving problems than making others feel warm and fuzzy."

...

"(Some people assert that many hackers have a mild form of autism or Asperger's Syndrome, and are actually missing some of the brain circuitry that lubricates "normal" human social interaction. This may or may not be true. If you are not a hacker yourself, it may help you cope with our eccentricities if you think of us as being brain-damaged. Go right ahead. We won't care; we like being whatever it is we are, and generally have a healthy skepticism about clinical labels.)"

Be gentle.

Not.

http://tvtropes.org/

Plot outlines, archetypal heroes, recurring themes in popular fiction.

High brow restaurant in Chicago, owner smokes bong filled with corked '82 petrus.

dramatist@CTAN

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