Month: April 2013

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Spain’s Extremadura Starts Move To GNU/Linux, Open Source

jrepin writes “The government of Spain’s autonomous region of Extremadura has begun the switch to open source of it desktop PCs. The government expects the majority of its 40,000 PCs to be migrated this year, the region’s CIO Theodomir Cayetano announced on 18 April. Extremadura estimates that the move to open source will help save 30 million euro per year. Extremadura in 2012 completed the inventory of all the software applications and computers used by its civil servants. It also tailored a Linux distribution, Sysgobex, to meet the majority of requirements of government tasks. It has already migrated to open source some 150 PCs at several ministries, including those for Development, Culture and Employment.”

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Spain's Extremadura Starts Move To GNU/Linux, Open Source

jrepin writes “The government of Spain’s autonomous region of Extremadura has begun the switch to open source of it desktop PCs. The government expects the majority of its 40,000 PCs to be migrated this year, the region’s CIO Theodomir Cayetano announced on 18 April. Extremadura estimates that the move to open source will help save 30 million euro per year. Extremadura in 2012 completed the inventory of all the software applications and computers used by its civil servants. It also tailored a Linux distribution, Sysgobex, to meet the majority of requirements of government tasks. It has already migrated to open source some 150 PCs at several ministries, including those for Development, Culture and Employment.”

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Two weeks under LCHF and I feel fine!

After finally watching the super famous film Supersize me, by Morgan Spurlock, I felt all nice and pandered about all the beliefs I had been brought up in life…

http://r8---sn-1vo-apnl.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?sparams=cp%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Cratebypass%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&source=youtube&mv=m&ratebypass=yes&ipbits=8&key=yt1&ip=85.138.248.231&expire=1367185894&upn=n_98iZfRG8g&newshard=yes&fexp=903802%2C913007%2C904303%2C916625%2C932000%2C932004%2C906383%2C904479%2C902000%2C901208%2C929903%2C925714%2C929119%2C931202%2C900821%2C900823%2C912518%2C911416%2C904476%2C908529%2C930807%2C919373%2C906836%2C929602%2C930101%2C926403%2C900824%2C912711%2C910075&sver=3&cp=U0hVTFFTU19OTkNONV9JTVdJOklBenNBVS1CRnNV&mt=1367163685&itag=43&id=f99ef8a20f476d33&ms=au&signature=5EE1282A8AC87CBA825E079E8066C720BD437A23.38976EF7D06037D992670E04CBAD801C5917361F

I mean, Surely it stands to reason all they say, and Spurlock is a good movie director so he controls quite well all those pretty little details that keep your suspension of disbelief active while nodding your head because the movie panders to what society has been vastely hammering on us since kids, well, most of my age and close abouts.

But then, I viewed Fat Head, by Tom Naughton

http://r6---sn-1vo-apnl.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?newshard=yes&id=7af70d3df665ad9b&cp=U0hVTFFTVl9KT0NONV9JTVpFOmpRNUJRNkNhbWR4&source=youtube&upn=XJqrfz54Qa8&fexp=927901%2C900338%2C916611%2C932000%2C932004%2C906383%2C904479%2C902000%2C901208%2C929903%2C925714%2C929119%2C931202%2C900821%2C900823%2C912518%2C911416%2C904476%2C908529%2C904830%2C930807%2C919373%2C906836%2C929602%2C930101%2C926403%2C900824%2C912711%2C910075&ms=au&itag=44&sver=3&mt=1367165370&ratebypass=yes&sparams=cp%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Cratebypass%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&expire=1367188455&ip=85.138.248.231&mv=m&ipbits=8&key=yt1&signature=4C6355969AE96050B618F7DDF62DAAB1229023E0.9936D4856DF7003747EBC5DD02AF7B1CC316EDF4

… and Fat Head Followup…

http://r1---sn-1vo-apne.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?mt=1367165429&ip=85.138.248.231&newshard=yes&ipbits=8&fexp=912302%2C925301%2C932200%2C927825%2C916611%2C932000%2C932004%2C906383%2C904479%2C902000%2C901208%2C929903%2C925714%2C929119%2C931202%2C900821%2C900823%2C912518%2C911416%2C904476%2C908529%2C904830%2C930807%2C919373%2C906836%2C929602%2C930101%2C900824%2C910075&mv=m&sver=3&source=youtube&ratebypass=yes&gcr=pt&itag=45&ms=au&upn=yDu0Zl6kpXA&cp=U0hVTFFUT19HU0NONV9JTlNBOmV4OXlfWmR5a3lo&sparams=cp%2Cgcr%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Cratebypass%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&id=71191c488f4fd7f2&expire=1367191029&key=yt1&signature=2421A3F55BF3F4094B3D575FFDD7F7731DB360DE.C599604111FD2B8F1F8C2CFE3D882FF9A9A4F3E9

I can only say… wow.

Tom does an excellent rebuttal of Supersize Me, in fact Spurlock lost all credibility to me when I learned that he keeps his data secret no matter how hard you ask for it.

As someone formed in sciences, finding out about that broke the spell completely. Specially when Naughton sprouts out the numbers in a clear fashion you can yourself test, veryfy and counterclaim

Worse, to get to the number of calories intake he claims to be getting at some point, you’d basically have to eat twice at McDonalds to get there, unless it’s very extreme unrealistic cases where most everyone would have a hard time even finishing their meal.

So, as Naughton says, there’s at least some Bologna in there.

In fact, as I’m quite overweight though not morbidally obese, I can attest that most standard diets out there (and I tried quite a few) do seem to be a lot like Microsoft Windows. Everyone thinks they have to have it though they don’t, or else they’ll have health problems (or be left out of the information society).

There’s news for you! As surely you should know, you can use Free Software and not ever be excluded of the Information Society, in fact you get much more involved specially if you become a collaborator rather than a normal user of software (and there’s so much you can help with…).

It appears to be just the same with what you eat.

I have started the LCHF diet since a couple of weeks ago and I feel very fine, so far, though I should really start taking down notes on my weigth, blood analysis and so forth in order to verify that I’m not swapping Bologna type A for Bologna type B.

However, I didn’t start this diet entirely from self appointed mastery of internet searching but from a recommendation from Randal Schwartz. Yes, one of Perl’s most recognizeable names and main co-host of FLOSS Weekly. A smart person who also believes in hard data and who has been in such a diet for about an year an has improved a lot.

Shamelessly copying from his reply to me on a Google Plus post (before I suspended it due to Larry Page and Google’s support of CISPA) here goes some more good information for you:

So, the easiest way to get into low carb high fat (LCHF) is this page:

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

and watch this movie (Fat Head):

Fat Head

plus his followup:

Fat Head Followup

That movie is a followup to “Supersize me”, so it helps if you’ve seen that, but not absolutely necessary.

And a compendium of good info (including links to recipes and more detailed explanations of why it works) is here (although gathered by a lay person, there are lots of doctors studies links):

http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com

For a more technical background about why it works, check out the series of FAQs and blog articles posted by Dr Peter Attia:

http://eatingacademy.com/start-here

The Reddit “/r/keto” community is very active (if you want a place to get support or questions answered), and has put together a nice FAQ as well:

http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

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Pirate Party Enters Iceland’s National Parliament After Historic Election Win

pp-icelandFounded in 2006, the Pirate party movement has scored some big and small victories over the years.

Their biggest success came in 2009 when the party won two seats at the European Parliament. During the last year this was followed by dozens more seats in German state parliaments.

Today a new milestone can be added after Iceland’s Pirate Party scored an important victory in the national parliamentary elections. With 5.1% of the total vote (95% counted) the Pirates (just) exceed the required 5% threshold, making it the first Pirate party to enter a national parliament, with 3 MPs.

Today’s success is not totally unexpected as the party has been polling very well in recent weeks. Nevertheless, the accomplishment is truly astonishing when taking into account that it was founded just five months ago.

The Icelandic Pirate Party was formed in November 2012, by activist Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a former Member of Parliament for ‘The Movement’.

Birgitta rose to international attention following the Wikileaks investigations when she was targeted by the U.S. Government for her association with the whistleblower organisation. Her pirate credentials were boosted when FBI agents conducting a low-key investigation into her activities were kicked out of the country in August 2011.

In just a matter of months the new Pirate Party achieved a lot of positive press and hundreds of people signed up to become a member. After today’s election win the party is expected to grow even further.

Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party, is currently in Iceland to celebrate the victory.

“I’m delighted every time another country gets pirates elected. Some old media and obsolete industries have insisted we were just a flash in the pan. I love it when those stories are exposed as wishful thinking,” Falkvinge tells TorrentFreak.

With the newly gained Parliament seats the Icelandic Pirate Party will focus on a wide range of issues, ranging from the prevention of copyright abuse, through political transparency, to protection of freedom of speech and privacy.

Source: Pirate Party Enters Iceland’s National Parliament After Historic Election Win

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Pirate Party Enters Iceland’s National Parliament After Historic Election Win

pp-icelandFounded in 2006, the Pirate party movement has scored some big and small victories over the years.

Their biggest success came in 2009 when the party won two seats at the European Parliament. During the last year this was followed by dozens more seats in German state parliaments.

Today a new milestone can be added after Iceland’s Pirate Party scored an important victory in the national parliamentary elections. With 5.1% of the total vote (95% counted) the Pirates (just) exceed the required 5% threshold, making it the first Pirate party to enter a national parliament, with 3 MPs.

Today’s success is not totally unexpected as the party has been polling very well in recent weeks. Nevertheless, the accomplishment is truly astonishing when taking into account that it was founded just five months ago.

The Icelandic Pirate Party was formed in November 2012, by activist Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a former Member of Parliament for ‘The Movement’.

Birgitta rose to international attention following the Wikileaks investigations when she was targeted by the U.S. Government for her association with the whistleblower organisation. Her pirate credentials were boosted when FBI agents conducting a low-key investigation into her activities were kicked out of the country in August 2011.

In just a matter of months the new Pirate Party achieved a lot of positive press and hundreds of people signed up to become a member. After today’s election win the party is expected to grow even further.

Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party, is currently in Iceland to celebrate the victory.

“I’m delighted every time another country gets pirates elected. Some old media and obsolete industries have insisted we were just a flash in the pan. I love it when those stories are exposed as wishful thinking,” Falkvinge tells TorrentFreak.

With the newly gained Parliament seats the Icelandic Pirate Party will focus on a wide range of issues, ranging from the prevention of copyright abuse, through political transparency, to protection of freedom of speech and privacy.

Source: Pirate Party Enters Iceland’s National Parliament After Historic Election Win

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Identi.ca Updates for 2013-04-26

  • RT @glynmoody European Parliament Trade Committee Backs Cultural Exclusion From EU-US FTA – http://bit.ly/10ETQck bad news that Moreira … #
  • @glynmoody Vital Moreira is a faithful lackey of the copyright extremists. Sorry about that, I didn’t want to export him to the EU. 🙁 #
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CISPA is dead! (again) (for now)

After months of activist agitation and a crushing disappointment from the cowards in the House of Representatives, the US senate has effectively killed CISPA, a sweeping Internet surveillance proposal. This is astoundingly great news! But CISPA died once before, and came back from the dead, and it will not likely stay dead this time around either. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, etc etc etc:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said in a statement on April 18 that CISPA’s privacy protections are “insufficient.”

A committee aide told ZDNet on Thursday that Rockefeller believes the Senate will not take up CISPA. The White House has also said the President won’t sign the House bill.

Staff and senators are understood to be “drafting separate bills” that will maintain the cybersecurity information sharing while preserving civil liberties and privacy rights.

Rockefeller’s comments are significant as he takes up the lead on the Commerce Committee, which will be the first branch of the Senate that will debate its own cybersecurity legislation.

Michelle Richardson, legislative council with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the publication she thinks CISPA is “dead for now,” and said the Senate will “probably pick up where it left off last year.”

CISPA ‘dead’ in Senate, privacy concerns cited [Zack Whittaker/ZDNet]

    

Posted on

CISPA is dead! (again) (for now)

After months of activist agitation and a crushing disappointment from the cowards in the House of Representatives, the US senate has effectively killed CISPA, a sweeping Internet surveillance proposal. This is astoundingly great news! But CISPA died once before, and came back from the dead, and it will not likely stay dead this time around either. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, etc etc etc:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said in a statement on April 18 that CISPA’s privacy protections are “insufficient.”

A committee aide told ZDNet on Thursday that Rockefeller believes the Senate will not take up CISPA. The White House has also said the President won’t sign the House bill.

Staff and senators are understood to be “drafting separate bills” that will maintain the cybersecurity information sharing while preserving civil liberties and privacy rights.

Rockefeller’s comments are significant as he takes up the lead on the Commerce Committee, which will be the first branch of the Senate that will debate its own cybersecurity legislation.

Michelle Richardson, legislative council with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the publication she thinks CISPA is “dead for now,” and said the Senate will “probably pick up where it left off last year.”

CISPA ‘dead’ in Senate, privacy concerns cited [Zack Whittaker/ZDNet]