Links and commentary
Internet/computer humour is pretty lame sometimes. An example that suits my case is this piece about "Microsoft chicken TV dinners". It's written in a completely stereotyped way: draw analogy with Microsoft's products and business practices in other field, induce humour. I'm no fan of Microsoft's, and poking fun at them is all well and good. However, this is a stunningly weary way of doing it.
I tried out a “modern” (means: “looks like Windows 98”) Linux desktop environment the other day. It was KDE, and I have to say that it seemed pretty flash. However, I didn’t use it for very long because it didn’t seem quite capable of reproducing exactly what I already have with my current setup. For example, I like to raise or lower windows by hitting the F1 key, and I change my key bindings for no man. However, this didn’t seem possible under KDE. I could bind F1 to raise, or to lower, but not to the combined action (raise window, unless it is at the top of the stack, in which case lower) that I'm used to. The configuration tool worked quite well, but it just didn't seem to let me do what I wanted. Hrumph.
David Chess has just published a screed I wrote to him about the BBC. I’m famous; my name is in print!
Talking of the media, if you take as pessimistic a view as Phil Agre, you’d have to conclude that the US media was in a terrible state. Certainly, his piece on the way the Republicans have mounted a character assassination campaign attacking Gore, and how the media have gone along with this, makes for pretty depressing reading.
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