La Salle Debain

I don't know what it says about Debian but while the political content of my last post was ignored, I have received a steady stream of email today saying Michael Palin was in fact the lumberjack in "And Now For Something Completely Different" Obviously I am unfit to be a heartbeat away from the DPL.

obTheOtherPalin: Today is Ganesh Chaturthi so I have been to busy praying to watch it. I presume it will be on youtube or something by tomorrow. In any case as long as she didn't embarass herself, my view that she will be a plus for the McCain campaign still stands.

In the original version of "The Lumberjack Song", the lumberjack was played by Michael Palin but in the later Monty Python live shows and the film "And Now For Something Completely Different" the role was taken over by Eric Idle.

The McCain campaign made a great tactical move by choosing Sarah Palin. She appeals to all the constituencies where McCain was weak: women, Christians, Libertarians, small state residents, energy policy wonks, corruption fighters, capitalists, gun enthusiasts, and Tina Fey fetishists.

Downsides? She is inexperienced in national affairs but I really don't think the average voter will care. After all many of them were willing to overlook a similar level of inexperience in Obama. And there is one minor possible ethics situation which again will only excite the true believers. When it turns out to be overblown it may actually rebound in Palins favor as an example of MSM manipulation.

She can also take the change meme away from the Democrats though that was already on the rocks what with the FISA vote and the choice of Neil Kinnock as his VP nominee. No, the lacklustre convention in Denver clearly showed that far from being the post-ideological, audaciously hopeful candidate of the future, Barack Obama is merely John Kerry with rhythm.

So what do the Dems have have left? The traditional Democratic themes of "We're not Bush" (that worked sooo well the last two times didn't it?) and "The Earth is about to explode in a fiery cataclysm." As the situation in Iraq improves, the economy climbs upwards from recession and petrol prices continue to come down its going to be harder to sustain the necessary level of gloom and doom.

While Republicans shouldn't exhale just yet (and the title of this post is just a teensy bit hyperbolic,) things are looking pretty good for us at the moment.

Thousands of the worlds brightest, most handsome, and fragrant-smelling developers gathered in Bryant Square Park, New York City, for PreventaConf 2008

Project founder Jaldhar H. Vyas gave a stirring keynote covering such interesting and informative topics such as "Is Preventa just a big joke or are you really working on it?" The audience were shocked to learn that he actually is.

Attendees gather for lunch sponsored by Heinz baked beans. Lunch is marred slightly by rain pouring through the roof and an altercation which resulted in the forcible expulsion of a known Ralph Nader sympathizer and his Move On organizer "girlfriend."

Wonderful news! The government of Zimbabwe has offered to sponsor Preventa to the tune of ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS. The Preventa project will use that money to cover infrastructure costs and subsidize developer travel expenses. Thanks Zimbabwe!

And finally here is a scene from the lab where developers are busy trying make Preventa a reality. Look forward to some real news soon!

Today is Galactic Freedom Day. Debian needs to join in and ensure future generations have full access to the source code of their anal probes.

Congratulations to Kartik who finally became a Debian Developer

There is definitely a lot of interest in Debian in India—even more if you count Ubuntu. Unfortunately interest is not translating into participation. Why are we seeing so little involvement in the project from Indians? What can we do to convert "users" to "builders"?

If you have any thoughts on the matter I would like to hear about them.

It seems I have been wrong about the origins of the Seville Orange joke

Rather than Algernon Sidney It would appear to have been quipped by an 18th century Anglo-Irish actor named James Quin as recounted in "Lives of the Players" by John Galt (not that John Galt but this one) in 1831.

Quin once, in the character of Cato, received a blow in his face by an orange thrown from the upper gallery; such a circumstance would have disconcerted many an actor possessed of less presence of mind, but instead of being disturbed, he wiped his face, and taking it up, observed, "It was not a Seville orange."

A proto-version of the joke does date back to Sidney's time. It was made by none less than William Shakespeare in "Much Ado About Nothing" Act II, Scene 1:

DON PEDRO: Why, how now, count! wherefore are you sad?

CLAUDIO: Not sad, my lord.

DON PEDRO: How then? Sick?

CLAUDIO: Neither, my lord.

BEATRICE: The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor well; but civil count, civil as an orange, and something of that jealous complexion.

Note Don Pedro is from Aragon which is close enough to Seville for Elizabethan comedy purposes.

But while 300+ years is impressive, this joke from Sumeria c. 19th-16th centuries BC is older by far:

Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.

See The world's ten oldest jokes

Although it still nominally has my name on it, the Debian dovecot package has for a long time been looked after by Fabio Tranchitella. Recently, Joel Johnson has joined the team and he has prepared a package for version 1.1.1 which was uploaded to experimental a couple of days ago. Upstream thinks 1.1.1 will probably not be stable enough for Lenny but a backport will be provided (perhaps even by me!) Testing/Unstable will stick with the 1.0 series until after the release.

A. Because if it flew over the bay it would be a bagel.

I Spent a few days in Atlantic City with the family. Although we stayed at one of the casinos very little gambling was done due to the accompaniment of small children and my innate Gujarati aversion to throwing money away for no reason. So instead we made a semi-permanent camp on the beach and built a large and I must say pretty awesome sandcastle. Shailu insisted it should have a fire exit. I have taught her well.

Steve says there are actually people who don't know that whilst is a word. What a blot on their escutcheons!