Archive for September 15th, 2007
Bishops
More Bishops. This one is in fact right about the children, but – well, you guess – about everything else.
Could We Have One Muslim-Obsession-Free Day in the Media, Please?
Mogens Camre of the Danish People’s Party wants to strip people who are Danish citizens of their citizenship if they are involved in terrorist activities and their grandparents (!) were immigrants. Another DPP politician wants to deport Muslims from Denmark because … well, they are “Muslims”.
I can imagine the comment in Foreign Policy, although the Danes have the advantage of not speaking German.
Berlingske Tidende is a nice cultivated newspaper which would never openly endorse such standpoints.
I said “openly” – for proof that it too is obsessed with Muslims exhibit 1, exhibit 2, exhibit 3.
Sigh.
For a dose of sanity, I hereby order you to read this post about the Ramadan in Istanbul on the Swedish collective blog “Islamologi.se”. (This especially applies to Karen Jespersen and Ralf Pittelkow) Note that the author also critizises the way Swedish media have focused on religious exotism in their well-meaning multiculturalist reports about Muslims celebrating Ramadan in Sweden.
Speaking of Turkey, you may also want to read this, this and this about internet censorship as well. Turkish EU membership isn’t around the corner any day now.
PS: Regarding the Lars Vilk-affair, I support Niklas Ekdal’s position.
Update: Kristian Thulesen Dahl, the chairman of the DPP parliamentary group, was a bit embarrassed by the call for the extradition of all Muslims from Europe.
buyPod
You’ve got to hand it to Uncle Steve: He’s a master salesman. Just the other week he brought just another joyous message to the world – not only did he slash the price of the eagerly-awaited iPhones (okay, some people were just a little bit p%&#!d off by that…), he also gave us the iPod Nano carrying video, the iPod Touch (as in the Midas Touch?) – and the iPod Classic with a choice of 80 and 160 GB harddisks.
mmmm….160 GB harddisk
And if you’re cheap, the 80 GB model is yours for merely 2.400 SEK.
Hold it right there: There are a few issues to sort out, before you hit the “buy” button.
First, the thing won’t connect with my desktop computer. My 5 year old iMac only supports USB 1.1 and the newer iPods demand USB 2.0. FireWire won’t do anymore. So a new MacBook or iMac has to be added to the shopping cart.
Second, my 20 GB 3G iPod from 2003 came with a few accessories such as a dock and a clip. No such luck this time: You’ll have to splash out another 450 SEK for a dock and then try to find some kind of device to hold the iPod for when I’m walking (which is when I use the present iPod). I would also need some extra pads for my other iPods if I want to use them with the dock.
Even without a new computer, we are now fast approaching a bill of 3.000 SEK.
Third, issues have been reported with the iPod Classics. You might want to wait and see how things develop before doing any harm to your bank account.
Fourth, “Classic” is generally used to give old models on the verge of obsolecence a last lease of life (Just to name some Apple examples: Macintosh Classic, Mac OS Classic). I’d put my money on a bet that Apple will be introducing Touches with much bigger harddisks during the coming year.
So, to make a long story short: No 160 GB Classic, no Touch, no Nano Video. Just yet. But I know that Steve’s out to get my soul. Or at least my money.
In case you wonder: Yes, the 2003 iPod still works. I changed the battery about 1 1/2 years ago.
PPS: How about the AppleTV, then? No, it doesn’t work with the iMac either as it hasn’t got an AirPort card. I have to use my laptop to synchronise it.
Correction: The consumer-line Apple laptops are called MacBooks, not iBooks.
links for 2007-09-15
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My verdict: Even in the relatively slick Ubuntu variation, Linux is still too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users. While Ubuntu looks a lot like Windows or Mac OS X, it is full of little complications and hassles that will quick
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Two decades after Allan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind,” it’s generally agreed that his multiculturalist opponents won the canon wars.
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Josh’s iTunes Album Art Grabber
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Boston Globe Reporter Charlie Savage did something great on Track One Monday. He actually supplied at TPM Cafe the missing master narrative for the Bush years: “The agenda of concentrating more unchecked power in the White House.”
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Wow. Updating Windows without your being aware of it? And after telling it not to? That’s what spyware does. It’s what the bad guys do. And now, it’s what Microsoft does. They seem to think that they own Windows, and you and I are just renting our copies.
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There had been “this extraordinary shift in the past ten years: you don’t talk about teaching and learning, you talk about management”, he said.
Entartet
The Roman Catholic Church never ceases to amaze…