I cannot understand why this can be considered fascist by reading the lyrics. But listening to it I have felt again that we need lyrics. We cannot go out at the world mumbling our athem, as we cannot sign it. Recently, Spanish Olimpic Comitee requested lyrics to be written. I strongly think that they will be some king of "flower power" lyrics, to avoid hurting anyone (which is impossible)

I cannot understand why this can be considered fascist by reading the lyrics. But listening to it I have felt again that we need lyrics. We cannot go out at the world mumbling our athem, as we cannot sign it. Recently, Spanish Olimpic Comitee requested lyrics to be written. I strongly think that they will be some king of "flower power" lyrics, to avoid hurting anyone (which is impossible)

* Horizon BlueCross/BlueShield is picked out early in the film in a collage of stories citing bad
treatment of members.

2) The Blues recognize the need for improvement of both the coverage and delivery of healthcare.
But the divisive tone set forth by Michael Moore and his movie “Sicko” is not helpful. Positive
change to our healthcare system can be best achieved through shared responsibility, not
recrimination. To ensure Americans have access to the best healthcare that is both timely,
efficient, and of high quality, requires the collective contribution of all stakeholders
consumers, providers, employers and the government.

Alex Hudson commented:

"Similar comments about another W3C WG: http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1181118077&order=-1&count=1 W3C should be about authoring material for the web. It seems at the moment, they're more concerned with the stuff that happens after authoring - e.g., how stuff relates in "the semantic web". IMHO we still don't have any powerful tools for authoring either, so the idea that authoring tools will automate many of the "bolt on accessibility" tasks is pretty naive."

"The problem with WCAG 2, as with WCAG 1, is precisely that it's a Work of Committee, and seeks to represent too many irreconcilable viewpoints and egos. In some cases, even the ideas behind it are inconsistent. Many (myself included) regard accessibility as being about ensuring a reader with a physical disability can make use of a site (think Steven Hawking). That's also what HTML is designed to support. Others are concerned with the mentally impaired, also a worthy cause, but one that becomes counterproductive when its advocates fail to distinguish between a site that's inherently inaccessible because it presents a complex and challenging subject, and one that's unnecessarily difficult due to poor presentation. Add the two together, blend in some stupidity, and you get "accessible" sites full of classic "friendly" little illustrations like a "helpful" government booklet, and a horribly intrusive "alt" to explain each pointless "ethnic mummy and child" picture."

"As I read in the draft, suggestions are still possible until the 29th, not the 27th of June."

Agua para todos... During the walk, we witnessed what the people from the Delta have been warning about for decades: the Delta is disappearing. The progressive overuse of the river's flow, excessive irrigation, damm construction and degradation is killing this unique place. The waters are slowly claiming what once was theirs. An electricity line, at the beginning of our trip being at the end of the beach starts approaching the sea, or viceversa, as you move southward, to end up many metres inside the water. The old people in the Delta still remember the 200m tall lighthouse in the Illa de Buda, which the sea managed to devour.

Sunset at the salines del Delta When we reached the Punta we could watch a beautiful sunset over the mountains of Els Ports, and when it got dark and cold we headed to Tortosa, the area's capital, which I had recently visited for the first time for one of Softcatal 's meetings. There, we had dinner at a bar and met Jordi and Anna for a while, before going back to Ampolla, going to bed relatively early due to everyone being very tired.

On Saturday, we decided to have a look at the Delta... from above. So we drove to the top of the Cim del Caro, where we could admire a great view over the flat farmlands of the Delta, and then found a nice trail which took us to a nice forest, where we had lunch. After a visit to Alfara de Carles, we went back to the house, had a great dinner and played fun games at the table. Unfortunately, Sunday morning was dedicated to cleaning up the mess in the appartment and packing, as part of the group, the Jordis from Alcoi and the twins, had to leave early. The remaining four Valencians decided to go to Deltebre to have a local paella. It was quite good, although the bar tender laughed at our request to eat directly from the paella, rejecting dishes. Small cultural clash. ;)

I remember downloading and viewing the pictures of the trip a few days after getting back in Val ncia, and then losing track of them. Last week, while testing an EPIA board with some random hard drive, I suddenly realised there was a big chance the pictures would be on that drive, and after some search, I found them; I had been close to mkfs the disk a few minutes before. I hadn't stopped blaming myself for misplacing these pictures, as they remind me of this wonderful weekend. Luckily, they are back! Going back to the state of the Delta, experts say it will be mostly gone in 200 years. All of the Terres de l'Ebre have fought against the previous government's "PHN" plan to divert part of the river's flow to the North and South, to supply Barcelona, and specially the South of Val ncia, where the developing of the coastal areas is out of control. I fear that whenever PP regains power in Madrid, they will retake this idea. There is a lot of money involved in building a 700 km long scar in our land. The Delta de l'Ebre is a fantastic place which doesn't deserve a terrible fate like this, only for the benefit of the usual suspects. As the good people of this land would say...

Lo riu s vida. No al transvasament!

Agua para todos... During the walk, we witnessed what the people from the Delta have been warning about for decades: the Delta is disappearing. The progressive overuse of the river's flow, excessive irrigation, damm construction and degradation is killing this unique place. The waters are slowly claiming what once was theirs. An electricity line, at the beginning of our trip being at the end of the beach starts approaching the sea, or viceversa, as you move southward, to end up many metres inside the water. The old people in the Delta still remember the 200m tall lighthouse in the Illa de Buda, which the sea managed to devour.

Sunset at the salines del Delta When we reached the Punta we could watch a beautiful sunset over the mountains of Els Ports, and when it got dark and cold we headed to Tortosa, the area's capital, which I had recently visited for the first time for one of Softcatal 's meetings. There, we had dinner at a bar and met Jordi and Anna for a while, before going back to Ampolla, going to bed relatively early due to everyone being very tired.

On Saturday, we decided to have a look at the Delta... from above. So we drove to the top of the Cim del Caro, where we could admire a great view over the flat farmlands of the Delta, and then found a nice trail which took us to a nice forest, where we had lunch. After a visit to Alfara de Carles, we went back to the house, had a great dinner and played fun games at the table. Unfortunately, Sunday morning was dedicated to cleaning up the mess in the appartment and packing, as part of the group, the Jordis from Alcoi and the twins, had to leave early. The remaining four Valencians decided to go to Deltebre to have a local paella. It was quite good, although the bar tender laughed at our request to eat directly from the paella, rejecting dishes. Small cultural clash. ;)

I remember downloading and viewing the pictures of the trip a few days after getting back in Val ncia, and then losing track of them. Last week, while testing an EPIA board with some random hard drive, I suddenly realised there was a big chance the pictures would be on that drive, and after some search, I found them; I had been close to mkfs the disk a few minutes before. I hadn't stopped blaming myself for misplacing these pictures, as they remind me of this wonderful weekend. Luckily, they are back! Going back to the state of the Delta, experts say it will be mostly gone in 200 years. All of the Terres de l'Ebre have fought against the previous government's "PHN" plan to divert part of the river's flow to the North and South, to supply Barcelona, and specially the South of Val ncia, where the developing of the coastal areas is out of control. I fear that whenever PP regains power in Madrid, they will retake this idea. There is a lot of money involved in building a 700 km long scar in our land. The Delta de l'Ebre is a fantastic place which doesn't deserve a terrible fate like this, only for the benefit of the usual suspects. As the good people of this land would say...

Lo riu s vida. No al transvasament!

In the northern Swedish town of vertorne , a dispute between the local council and its electricity distributor has meant that the town has had no streetlighting for many months now (TV programme in Swedish about the controversy here). Today Swedish television and other media report that since the streetlights were switched off, thefts and burglaries have halved. Maybe the thieves are afraid of the dark , says council boss Arne Honkamaa. On the other hand, maybe it s being able to see the night sky that s reducing crime.

1. Bosnia+Herzegovina - nice but no chance;
2. Spain - 4 guys in tight white and pink lights - creepy;
3. Belarus - Medallion man with a rock ballad to bukkake - "when you cast your loving potion over me";
4. Ireland - Folksie, charming, dark yet jolly;
5. Finland - more noisy dark rock with drums;
6. Republic of Macedonia - up/down ballad with drums;
7. Slovenia - Opera in black with drums;
8. Hungary - Bluesy rock angst. No drums. Phew;
9. Lithuania - Guitarry song with "lonely shades walking";
10. Greece - an odd disco/dance at the "heart of attention";
11. Georgia - a nice slice of trance;
12. Sweden - revenge of 70s glam! Maybe "with my head in the can" was deliberate;
13. France - Franglais pop. How did monoglots follow this?
14. Latvia - a singalong. In Italian. But it looks like Italy aren't here this year. So how's that help?;
15. Russia - another fun girl band, singing different (ruder) lyrics to the official song sheet;
16. Germany - sexism swings;
17. Serbia - a red up/down song;
18. Ukraine - dance nonsense - the first song I walked out on this year;
19. UK - an example of Britishness and why I call myself English, not British;
20. Romania - a fun little polyglot guitar song;
21. Bulgaria - drums, dance, squeaking;
22. Turkey - "How much I crave for you" - a dancey whirly song;
23. Armenia - the tearful stalker's song;
24. Moldova - gothest song of the night - "each people will gnaw our wishes no more"???

• “datetime now()” — Buy a watch?
• “different to” — No, it’s different from.
• “things to know about blues the genre” — Try this.
• “light window in the dark” — Close the curtains?
• “bathe brass trumpet” — Don’t use too much bubble bath.
• “easy to play beethoven’s 5 symphony musical notes” — G G G E-flaaaat. F F F Deeee.
• “how to be a good bassoon player” — Don’t play so loud when you’re doubling the cellos? They’ll hate you.
• “how to play contrabassoon” — 1. Put it back in the case 2. Lose case 3. … 4. Profit.
• “violists are losers” — Not at all.
• “mozart piece that you play with your nose and hands” — o.O
• “moar internets” — I couldn’t put it better myself.

• new CD ejection routine, no longer calls eject
• additional DBus methods to control pommed over DBus
• keyboard backlight fading (automatic backlight on/off)
• keep track of the event devices in use and try harder to reopen them after suspend

Happy Easter We had a good Easter morning at our house today. I got up around 5AM and packed plastic Easter eggs with about half candy and half healthy fruit (grapes and kiwis) and hid them around the house. There's still snow on the ground outside, so I decided not to hide any out there. Amita noticed as soon as she got up ("EGGS!!"), and ran around the house picking up eggs, breaking them in half, and eating the grapes inside. She also got an improvised Easter "basket" -- they didn't have baskets at the store, so I got a little Easter gift-bag instead -- with apples, a chocolate bunny, and a stuffed duck. Pretty good haul. This afternoon we're going out to a cabane sucre -- a traditional "sugar shack", where maple syrup is made. We'll have a big dinner, go on a horse ride, and listen to some traditional Qu bec music. It's my first time going, and I'm pretty excited. tags: easter cabane sucre easter egg hunt maj amitajune chocolate bunny maple syrup

Grindhouse Nicolas Ritoux, his girlfriend Karine, and I went to see Grindhouse on Friday night. It was a pretty fun film -- a double-feature by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, more-or-less modeled after early-'70s C-movie gore-fests. Rodriguez's half, "Planet Terror", was really good -- a campy gross-out with nods to horror-film clich s and T&A jiggle goofiness. The monsters were gross, the characters were dark, and stars Rose McGowan and Freddy Rodriguez put in great performances. Best of all were the computer-modified soundtrack and photography, which gave a great impression of cheap, skippety, second-run film stock. I wish I could say the same about Tarantino's half, "Death Proof". After a full-length "Planet Terror", it was too slow and boring -- I almost walked out. Tarantino has always done a great job with the patter between characters in their on-screen "down time": driving in cars, waiting in bars, making plans on the phone. But the first half of "Death Proof" was about watching people you don't like say stupid things to each other while waiting for other people you don't care about. The second half, on the other hand, was pretty great. But it was almost entirely an extended car chase in beefed-up 70s muscle cars, which, like, how could that not be awesome? A New Zealander beats up Kurt Russell with a 2-meter lead pipe, and Rosario Dawson does a pick-axe kick on his throat. Cool. All in all, worth the price of admission, but the first half of "Death Proof" dragged down what could have been an excellent film. tags: grindhouse robert rodriguez quentin tarantino planet terror death proof

St. Laurent Maj, AJ and I went furniture shopping yesterday afternoon. We need to find a new, big couch for our new house, as well as a few other minor pieces. We're ditching those pieces of cheap disposable Ikea furniture that we built up over the years and trying to put together a house that's built to last. Shopping for furniture in Montreal is made considerably easier by the fact that maybe 2 dozen furniture stores are crammed between Duluth and Mont Royal on av. St. Laurent. We visited around 10 stores, just walking up and down these few blocks. Amita June loved running around the stores, and we had to keep her from pulling down giant crystal ornaments on her head. We had lunch at Taqueria Mex (not bad, but not like home) then I went to meet Niko at La ka while Maj took the baby home for a nap. We hung out at La ka for most of the day, working and talking, and ended up sitting around with a hungover Boris and Michael for a while. It's La ka -- if you sit around long enough, everyone in Montreal's Internet scene is going to walk past at some point. tags: laika la ka stlaurent furniture taqueria mex boris niko michael

Duluth is on fire So, a friend asked if I meant Duluth, Minnesota in the above entry. And that made me wonder: are rue Duluth in Montreal and Duluth, MI named after the same guy? Per Wikipedia, the city is named after Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, a French explorer who died in Montreal. Surely it's the same fellow...? Does anyone know who Duluth street is named after? tags: duluth street minnesota montreal

In the pre-internet dark age, there was a subculture of folks who would get their hands on books and pass them around and encourage people to read them for free, rather than buying their own copies. Much like today’s ebook pirates, in terms of the what they did (with one or two minor differences). There was a closely-related subculture who would actually sell copies of books without paying the authors a penny in royalties, too. We have a technical term for such people: we call them “librarians” and “second-hand bookstore owners”.