Internet Apartheid

Continuing with an old rant.

I was installing a new computer at work. VISTA operating system.

Note: If you are a VISTA user, please turn off your computer, go to a Mac store and buy a Mac. You are a Mac user, not a PC user.

I have been using PC since MS-DOS 3.36. I have used to have every command in English. I think I had Finnish F-Prot back in the day, but otherwise I have used to have all the applications in English. One language in one computer. I like to have it neat. I have if my right-click menu (the shell commands) are in n+1 different languages.

99% of all programs are first in English and then translated into local languages. All updates come first in English, then in other languages. Therefore it is also more handy to have all the applications in English.

Today, with beautiful Internet Exploiter 7 I tried to download FireFox, update drivers and such. Of course our Führers of the internet have decided for me that I speak fluently the language of the country I happen to be currently.

It was impossible to have Live Messenger in English from MicroSoft webpage. It was difficult to find English FireFox from Mozilla site. It is virtually impossible to have English in any huge company's webpages. They think for you and rule that you need to be fluent in the language of the country you are currently in.

What if I visit China and need to reinstall my FireFox? I do not even recognize the letters, little alone find where to change the language, since there is no link saying "English".

All the big companies limit your internet experience to the country you are currently visiting thus creating a new form of apartheid.

International pages are verboten. Everyone should stay in their own countries. No travelling allowed before we have one-world language.

Look at your application window. What is the link/menu on the top right-hand side? Correct, it is Help. How is it impossible for these people to have a simple link "English" on the top right-hand corner of their webpages - right next to the search field?

Since English is the major language in IT business, there should be an option to see the page in that language. At least that way the person who does not speak any of the pre-decided languages well, that person can at least stagger towards his/her own native language.

I can hardly wait to install FireFox and NoScript. At least that way some of the less-sophisticated pages get fooled and show the page in default language (English). But the more sophisticated pages, MicroSoft webpages in the lead, decide the language according to ISP, methinks. Not according to my preferences.

Oh yes, Google has some sort of simple single-search option to change the language to English. It just every now and then decides that hey, you should search pages only from local Google, not the international Google. What if I want to have as wide search results as possible? Can I please search webpages outside the Netherlands?

Google.nl and Google.com do return different results.

And no, I do not want to buy that Dutch product you are offering me.

Change?

What Frogthroat hopes for:
Obama 322 electoral votes.

But what Frogthroat fears is going to happen:
McCain 51.3%

Google Fisting Japan

Checking something from Google maps. But hey, what's that? ...Do I see correctly? It even has the thumbnail a tad North from Palau! Go check it out.

Greetings from Africa

A friend of mine, Mr. Y went to East-Africa. He brought some souveniers from there:

After applying some vaseline, that little bulge opened up and this one came out:
Tumby fly larvae is apparently not a myth, but actually real. And it left a nasty hole:
A picture of another larva, this one is a big one:

A family portrait:
If you go to Africa, remember vaseline.

Pictures by Mr. J. All rights reserved.

Aphorism Of The Day Pt.27

People are like rubber bands.
If you push them, they bounce back.
If you pull them, they will stretch.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day (again)

Ahoy there matey!

It be a fine day today, for it be the International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Oh aye, stop swabbing the deck, hoist yer Jolly Roger and join me in the local tavern to wet our whistles with grog, or are ye yellow bellied mutinous scurvy son of a dog scared? Arrr! Me throat is dry. That be it.

Blow yer man down!

Ossetia - Last Straw on the Camel's Back?

War broke between Georgia and Russia! For quite some time now they have been ruffing their feathers. When it is Georgia saying they shot down invading Russian planes, and when it is Russian planes shooting down Georgian planes. The latter was already very scary; Georgia was laying down some serious accusations.

Soviet Union, and before that Russian Empire was already uniting those areas. They have lived so long as one, which has made them so intertwined, they cannot possibly fight each other without fighting also against themselves. One could almost argue Georgian and Russian people are the one and the same people. But that is not completely true. There are very unique areas and people, but as I said they are very intertwined.

However, I try not to have strong opinions on international incidents if it doesn't affect global peace. Especialy if the countries who are violated bow down even if they are not too weak to defend themselves. But there are areas of the World that nobody cares about. Most likely because there are no merchandise, power or money to be made.

It is kind of a good thing USA is fighting war in Middle-East. USA might be hesitant to give military aid to Georgia and open one more front. The Bear of Russia still got big paws. Plus USA - Russia relationship has been a bit tense because of the missile shield. Sometimes USA makes an offer Russia must refuse. Sometimes it is Russian's turn. Even UN has had its share of gnashing of teeth. Hopefully that makes UN to try to keep NATO off from this.

I would not like to see UK joining this thing. Especially when UK has demanded something absurd from Russia already in the recent past. Not that it would not be right for UK to get what they wanted, but when it means one country must bend their own laws to do so, it is just too bold to demand.

You see, the incident might cause global unrest. I hope USA will not send troops to Georgia. Even if they would like to, in this case it is a positive thing they are already fighting a war and their currency is in decline. There must be a peaceful way. I hope UN can find a diplomatic way for this. And hopefully USA and UK keeps a low profile. And perhaps if USA announces they will delay their missile shield project Russia might calm down a bit. The power Russia and USA have behind them, I do not care who is right. If they clash, it only matters who is left.

Autovorarephilia

I got it!

It has been bothering me for a long tiome. What the heck Bernd Jürgen Brandes was?

Train of thoughts: Carnivore... vore... eater... vorare... in Italian it is "to eat" methinks. No! Munchare is. Vorare is like ... devour? Must be in Latin something more extreme, methinks... I guess it means to "hotkaista*" um... to "wolf" down something... Vorarephilia ... eaten-philia. ...devouring-philia... A person who likes to be eaten or eat someone. What was Herr Brandes then? Vorarephile, yes, but also Autovorarephile! ...Is that a real word? And thus I managed to label even him.

* Hotkaista is a Finnish word for ... um... eat in greed? How do you translate that?

Where's My CDs?!

XPSP3 stable version is out. Decided to download and install it. Then I though, why not integrating the SP3 with my XP CD with no SP.

...copied XP CD to HDD. Fine.
...extracted the files from the SP3 .exe file. Fine.
...extracted the boot image from the CD. Fine.
...slipstreamed the SP3 to the XP files. Fine.
...created an ISO file of the package. Fine.
...opened CD burning software and chose to burn the image. GODDAMN! ¤*&#§¤%€#! I'm outta CDs!

I'm even out of DVDs. Haven't burned a CD in couple of years. I guess it's time to go to a CD-r shop.

Why does it have to rain today?

Rains. On a day when I would have nothing else to do, except to go outside and enjoy the sunshine. Figures.

I guess I'll order in. Cannelloni e birra. And watch the Godfather.

Aphorism Of The Day Pt.26

Q: What becomes of a person with borderline disorder if he/she eats a wrong kind of mushroom?
A: Shamanic-depressive.

My Human Right to Doubt

The Great Ape Project has a good point. More humane treatment for our relatives.

But there is a humangous risk in it. The way I think about every new change is to think a way to abuse it. The way to begin to understand security is to awknowledge the risks. In order to be safe, you have to understand how your rights could be abused.

I do not know, whether they mean they should have the same rights to live freely as we do, or same kind of right to live freely as we do. Is it human rights, or 'human rights'?

If this indeed becomes a landmark legislation to enshrine human rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos, and we are still free to capture great apes and put them in the zoo, what stops me to capture you, dear reader, and put you in a zoo against your will? If they enjoy the same human rights as we do, I should be able to do the same to you as to our fellow human chimpanzees. Or are you more equal than a chimp in front of the law, if it is the same human rights law?

Don't get me wrong, I am not against animal rights. I am against demeaning our own rights.

There is a declaration that you can sign at the Great Ape Project webpages, but I will not sign that before I know for sure what kind of lawtwisters we are talking about. Same kind of rights, no problem. I am all for that. The same rights? No way. We can barely respect each other. I do not want to give anyone a chance to compare my rights to any non-Homo Sapiens Sapiens for as long as we treat any animal the way we do.

I want to know more about this, as this should be a step forward for animal rights, and not a step backwards for human rights. If you know better than I do, or do not care to read the fine print, feel free to sign the declaration here.

George Carlin: Another Dead Hero

22. June, 2008 George Carlin was taken to a hospital for some chest pain. He died at the age of 71.

I will miss him.

Aphorism Of The Day Pt.25

Good girls go to Cannes.
Bad girls go straight to video. (Or AVN Awards...)

Aphorism Of The Day Pt.24

With Lockhart Dickens you can Freud Jung Kant.