Cogs can think.

Israel has expensive, precision weapons, that, according to Israel, can hit specific doors in buildings. Yet, they kill 54 innocent civilian refugees cramped up in cellar, half of which were children. Does not compute. Syntax error. Bad command or filename. Command not found. File does not exist.

Israel said, we warned the people of Qana. Yet, all infrastructure has been bombed back into the middle ages. So, how do these people leave their homes, exactly? Does not compute. Syntax error. Bad command or filename. Command not found. File does not exist.

Qana. That is the place where Jesus is said to have performed his first miracle. I’m not Christian, but if I were… It’d make me think.

Crap like this really freaks me out.

The opinions this woman is spouting are actually fairly well-spread in the US– one just has to read/watch Fox News to see how many people actually believe these sorts of nonsense. Those people are the same people who believe my country is literally Hell, the place where Satan reigns. Even republican politicians believe this!

And all that, simply because we Dutch are simply a whole lot more civilised than most other countries. We do not do state-sponsored murder. We are not an apartheid state where some people have less rights than others simply because they are gay. We are not a country were prostitutes have no rights because they have to do their job in secrecy; instead, we legalised it in certain designated areas, so we can control and tax it. We are, however, a country with extremely low drug abuse/drug related crime figures thanks to our good (but not perfect yet) drug policies.

So sure, woman, go ahead, go recreate the middle ages in America. It is really paying off, is it not? Drug related crimes and drug abuse are very low, right? The state-sponsored murder really did bring down crime figures, right? Martin Luther King really did make everybody equal, right?

Don’t make me laugh. You, woman, live in a country where freedom ends as soon as the white part of the country is in danger. You live under an apartheid regime in an extremely violent society.

I don’t think present-day America is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they ‘made’ the United States. Land of the free, home of the brave. Sure, blondie.

Why do users on OSNews always assume they are special? That I treat them differently from others? It is extremely annoying that every reader on OSN assumes I know them in and out, that I know their real names, that I remember each and every post they made, that I somehow have special rules or whatever for them.

This is it, boys and girls: no offence, but most of you are just user_ids to me. Except ‘high-profile’ regulars (Rayiner, alcibiades, kaiwai, …, …), I don’t know any of you. I do not have special rules for any of you, simply because for 95% of you, I have no fcuking clue who you are, what comments you made, or what strories you submitted.

Again, this is not to offend any of you: it is a simple consequence of having 100000+ readers every day.

Today, I went to the municipality building to get a new passport (my previous one had expired). I get in there, and the woman behind the counter said they needed my expired passport to complete the request for a new one. I went home, got my old passport, and got back. Of course, suddenly, there now was a huge queue.

When it was my turn, I was perplexed. The woman takes my old password, takes a quarter of a second peep, and then asks, you want it back or do you want my to shred it. I replied, “oh, shred the thing”, but while I was saying it, it dawned on me: why in the name of all that is female beauty did they need that old passprt for? That peep?

Slightly annoyed, I remained calm and nice and fluffy as I always am. Then they did another government official pointless trick: their computer said I still owned an identity card (a sort of mini-passprt with which you can travel to EU countries only), which had expired a year ago. They wanted it.

I was getting pissed off. Woman, I don’t have it anymore, I threw it away after I got my passport, 6 or 7 years ago. Why didn’t you morons tell em then I needed to give it back? “Oh no, you can have them both, side-by-side, no problem?” “Then what is the problem now?” “It is expired. You either need to find that old ID card, or go to the police station, report it missing, and then get back here with that report so you can pick up your new passport.”

I was so perplexed, I could not think straight. I just accepted this nonsense. But when I stepped in my car, only then did I fully realise the utter nonsense I just heard. How fcuking hard is it, you stupid fat blonde ugly cunt behind that fcuking service desk, who lives off MY damn hard-earned tax money, to press that fcuking shiny ‘del’ button on you ergonomic Microsoft keyboard, so you, fat, ugly blonde whore can get me my damn passport?

Goddamnit I so hate ambtenaren.

One of the very basic psychological theories is the Theory of Attribution. A simple premise of this theory is that positive outcomes are attributed to a person’s own qualities, and negative outcomes to external factors, beyond the person’s own control. For example, when programming the VCR fails, it’s the VCR’s fault, the fault of the manual, but never the fault of the person trying to program the thing. However, when that person succeeds in programming that VCR, it is because of the person’s own abilities.

One learns this theory in Psychology in the first year.

And recently, I saw a perfect computing related example of this: the good quarterly financial results of Apple. Whenever Apple had bad results, and let’s face it, Apple has had some, it was attributed to externel factors, it was not Apple’s fault, etc. But now that Apple has had some really, really good results, it’s all because of how good Apple is!

You see, that is why Psychology is so interesting. I might have stopped the study, but I still see what I learned put in practice every day.

Saudi-Arabia has threatened to declare war on Israel if it does not cease to attack Lebanon. Seeing both countries are big comfy-cosy friends with the US, this is actualy kind of funny. Other than this, Arabia has also given a lot of money to Lebanon and Palestine to aid them in the war.

Assuming Arabia indeed declares war on Israel, what would the US do? What is more important to the US, the oil coming from Arabia, or the Jewish lobby in the US? This is a fairly delicate situation the US is in now. I wonder what sort of weird statement Condoldoewfewir Rice which she’ll contradict tomorrow make now.

If the US chooses the Israel route, it would get in trouble energy-wise, as most likely many Arab countries would turn off the oil tap. If the US goes the oil route, Israel is lost. Israel is nothing without the backing of the US.

Interesting development, this.

I just could not take it anymore today. I just had to buy music at my record store. And so I did. I bought two albums by Sufjan Stevens, “Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lake State” and “Seven Swans”. I just listened to the former, it is great, as is everything Stevens does. I am now listening to the latter, and it is just as good. Sufjan Stevens is an astonoshing musician; a surprising tossed salad of sounds and vocals, lyrically extremely poetic and mysterious, even. Productive, too; almost an album per year. I advise all of you to listen to his music when you get the chance. It might be too complicated for most of you, but true music lovers will see the genius.

—

I also saw something very weird while in Big City Alkmaar. I was at the Media Markt, a chain of big-ass electronic stores (and with big I mean two footbal-pitches-big) that sell everything from DVDs to hairdryers, from CD players to in-car enterntainment.

The weird thing: they sell Macs now. They had a Mac Mini, including cinema display, on a prominent spot on the shop floor. This is great news; the more diversity, the better. This is the first time EVER that I have seen Macs being sold outside of Apple-approved retail stores– usualy shops that sell only Apple gear.

I often on this blog praise cars which I know many of you cannot afford. Neither can I at this point in time, but of course I know I will be filthy, faboulously rich at some point in my life. So for me it are not dreams; it is future planning.

Anyway, here is a list of ‘normal’ cars, much more affordable, which I thoroughly like. Some are unexpected, to say the least.

Alfa 159 (black) - Of course as a true Alfist, the 159 is included in this list. It might not be sex on wheels like the Brera or Brera Spider, but at least she’s a good kiss. A kiss by the love of your life in a snowstorm, at night, in Berlin, near the Reichstag, on Valentine’s Day.

Dodge Caliber (orange) - It probably has the same low-quality interior made out of 3rd world plastics we Europeans won’t even make plastic cuttlery out of like every other American car, but by god what an agressive piece of design. This is what happens when American designers are sent to a course in proper design on the right side of the Atlantic, without losing their American heritage. I’ll have a quarter-pounder with that.

Citroen C6 (black) - A little too expensive for this list, maybe, but I wanted to include it anyway. French folk are weird people, but they do know how to make stunning limousines. The best thing to come out of France since… Well, it’s not like anything out of that country ever set a precedent or anything.

Renault Vel Satis (champagne) - Weird looking car, and Top Gear said “this will join the line of posh limousines nobody bought”. I like it. I like it a lot.

Subaru Impreza WRX STi (blue! With golden wheels!) - So utterly vulgair, you’d be more British by fcuking a 3 dollar whore in Thailand. But… Who gives a flying fcuk. You have the world’s best rallycar, it will outperform just about anything anytime, for only… 50000 Euros.

Peugeot 406 Coupé (blue) - Maybe even prettier and sexier than any other normal car ever made. It’s often been referred to as the poor man’s Ferrari, and that covers it about perfectly. Everything about the design of this car is utterly stunning, its clean lines just makes your heart skip a few beats. Too bad it’s French and therefore will probably be built with spit instead of glue and bolts. But oh god how beautiful this car is. Americans, this is why we love Pininfarina.

BMW 3 Series Coupe, E36 model (silver) - From the era when BMW was all about clean lines and conservative design. I love the BMWs from the ’90s. Today, they are too fat, too overstyled. Such a shame. Oh, and I take the drug dealer air for granted.

Ford Cougar (that purple on the picture) - This little gem comes close to the 406 Coupé design-wise. A stunning automobile with a relatively acceptable 2nd hand pricetag (about 8000-10000 Euros). A likely candidate for my next car.

Suzuki Swift (orange) - Small, cool, good-looking, and well built. I love this little car. Suzuki at its best.

There are many more, but this is a good start.

Cough.

Miguel De Icaza has a collection of quotes and links concerning the war Israel has started against Lebanon. His most interesting collected quote is the following, from a British journalist in northern Israel:

To remind you, I, like other residents of northern Israel, am under martial law. As are the foreign journalists — and in addition they are required to submit their copy to the military censor. So all I can tell you, without breaking the law, is that you are not hearing the entire picture of what has been happening here in the Galilee.

Certainly, a piece of news that I doubt you will hear from the foreign media, although bravely the liberal Hebrew media has been drawing attention to the matter, is that the “only democracy in the Middle East” has all but silenced al-Jazeera from reporting inside Israel.

The reason is clear: until recently al-Jazeera had been running rings around the local and foreign press.

[…]

But al-Jazeera’s coverage inside Israel — the Arab world’s best chance of being exposed to the Israeli point of view — is being effectively shut down. In the past two days, its editor has been arrested on two occasions and another senior journalists taken in for questioning. According to its reporters, they cannot move from their office without being followed by the Israeli security services.

I always found that Miguel was a breath of fresh reason within the GNOME community, but with this blog post he has proven to be a breath of fresh reason in more than just software.