notebook tag:www.tonimueller.org,2009-08-08:/blog//1 2012-05-12T22:05:38Z Sapere aude! ("Dare to think!") Movable Type 4.38 ICS on HTC Vision (aka Desire/Z)? tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.51 2012-05-11T07:03:58Z 2012-05-12T22:05:38Z It looks like several people are severely unhappy with HTC’s attitude towards ICS on their Vision device - at least, I am, and so are a number of petitioners on the web site mentioned below. Unfortunately, the fine folks at... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html It looks like several people are severely unhappy with HTC’s attitude towards ICS on their Vision device - at least, I am, and so are a number of petitioners on the web site mentioned below. Unfortunately, the fine folks at Cyanogenmod don’t seem to make any progress, either, but at least, petitioning could be more focussed. So let’s at least unify all petitions with that concern to build enough thrust:

Can we do the math to say that there are a total of more than 4.500 users to support this issue, and that nothing is to be gained if those are all spread across different petitions?

Ok, maybe there are duplicates (likely), but I’d say that awareness really should be raised.

And FWIW, vendors who don’t at least don’t stand in the way of easy updates by third parties should not get further sales. Imagine you could not update your PC because the vendor locked the device down to make it (too) hard for you.

]]> World Plone Day 2012 tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.49 2012-04-11T08:40:03Z 2012-04-11T08:49:50Z Der diesjährige “World Plone Day” findet am 25.4.2012 statt. Ich bin fest entschlossen, an der diesjährigen Veranstaltung in Bonn teilzunehmen. Das dortige Hochschulrechenzentrum von meiner alten Alma Ata richtet diese Veranstaltung gemeinsam mit dem Python Software Verband aus, es... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html wpd-2012.jpg Der diesjährige “World Plone Day” findet am 25.4.2012 statt. Ich bin fest entschlossen, an der diesjährigen Veranstaltung in Bonn teilzunehmen. Das dortige Hochschulrechenzentrum von meiner alten Alma Ata richtet diese Veranstaltung gemeinsam mit dem Python Software Verband aus, es ist zwischen 15:00 Uhr und 20:00 Uhr geöffnet.

Nähere Veranstaltungshinweise finden Sie hier: http://rheinland.worldploneday.de/

]]> Christianity Promotes Science, Right? tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.48 2012-04-10T16:38:29Z 2012-04-11T08:39:48Z I keep hearing that Christianity is what created a strategic advantage by promoting scientific progress in the West. Today, I stumbled over the following illustration that highlights this issue in graphical terms: (original source) As for claims that all significant... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html I keep hearing that Christianity is what created a strategic advantage by promoting scientific progress in the West. Today, I stumbled over the following illustration that highlights this issue in graphical terms:

christianity.jpg (original source)

As for claims that all significant libraries were located in monasteries:

Nothing beats claiming to promote science if you killed all non-believers first and prohibit the general people from even learning to read.

I guess I’ll keep advocating Atheism for a while…

]]> Praxisbericht Datenschutz: Das Mobiltelefon tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.47 2012-03-21T18:33:29Z 2012-03-21T18:52:57Z Wie schon anderweitig oft berichtet, sind Mobiltelefone grundsätzlich zur Dauer-Fernüberwachung von Personen geeignet. Viele normale Menschen verstehen dieses Problem nicht, oder sie verdrängen es. Auch ich benutze fleißig solche Geräte, weil ich einfach keine praktische Alternative zu den kleinen Helferlein... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html Wie schon anderweitig oft berichtet, sind Mobiltelefone grundsätzlich zur Dauer-Fernüberwachung von Personen geeignet. Viele normale Menschen verstehen dieses Problem nicht, oder sie verdrängen es. Auch ich benutze fleißig solche Geräte, weil ich einfach keine praktische Alternative zu den kleinen Helferlein sehe, die mir in unbekannten Gegenden den Weg weisen, mir meine Emails anzeigen, und was derlei Dinge mehr sind.

Doch im Jahre 2011 hat die ZEIT gemeinsam mit dem Politiker Malthe Spitz demonstriert, was Vorratsdatenspeicherung eigentlich ist: Es ist die fast totale Überwachung der Person, die das Gerät trägt. Wenn man jetzt noch die Spionagesoftware, wie sie vor einigen Wochen in einem Politmagazin anhand der Überwachung von Aktivisten während des arabischen Frühlings hinzunimmt, wo nachgewiesen wurde, daß Mikrofon und Kamera aus der Ferne unbemerkt eingeschaltet werden können, dann sollte das Potential wirklich jedem Nutzer klar werden.

Ich kann daher allen Leuten nur dringend empfehle, einmal die untenstehenden Links zu den Artikeln zu verfolgen, und, falls noch nicht geschehen, ein wenig mit der Auswertung herumzuspielen.

]]> Plone Configuration Tip tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.45 2012-03-05T23:46:59Z 2012-03-21T01:47:26Z While wading through one of my buildouts, it occurred to me that I should look up the documentation for Plone’s PrintingMailHost. This product is very nice for a developer, and I have been using it for some time. But today,... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html While wading through one of my buildouts, it occurred to me that I should look up the documentation for Plone’s PrintingMailHost. This product is very nice for a developer, and I have been using it for some time. But today, I actually read the documentation and found this warning, which so far had escaped me:

If Zope is not running in debug mode, it will not install itself. However, I wouldn’t recommend putting it on a production site. You never know what those monkeys may get up to…

I wanted the PrintingMailHost only in my development instance, and therefore changed my setup a little. Instead of globally adding the product to my eggs listing, I added it only for the development buildout:

[secondary]
... copy from the main buildout, then:

eggs =
    ${buildout:eggs}
    Products.PrintingMailHost

After re-running buildout, none of my production instances had a PrintingMailHost anymore.

Enjoy!

]]> Learn to Use A Real Editor, or: Vim Tips and Tricks tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.44 2012-03-02T19:41:33Z 2012-03-02T20:00:57Z For years I have been recommending that users diving into the Linux world, or who otherwise expect to get into contact with something unix-like, learn to master vi. The simple reason is that this editor, though feeling a little arcane... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html For years I have been recommending that users diving into the Linux world, or who otherwise expect to get into contact with something unix-like, learn to master vi. The simple reason is that this editor, though feeling a little arcane at times, is very powerful, and almost ubiquitious. It works almost the same across all systems that you might encounter, from the now 30 years old workstation that you find in the dumpster, to the most recent netbook or mainframe computer. So you learn the program once, and use it a lifetime - how’s that for a cost/benefit ratio? And contrary to popular belief, you can learn the basics of this program in about an hour.

Plus, this editor lets you work on your text in much more efficient manners than you used to, if all you have seen so far are the typical end-user type of editors (like Notebook under Windows, Joe, Jove, or likely even CodeWright and friends). The catch is that you need to make some effort to actually learn how to use it. But here is where the differences start: While other editors may have a man page or help file that allows you to master the program, vi has had a learning program since ages.

If you are on a halfway modern Linux system, I highly recommend using vim, which also exists for other platforms (example shown assumes Debian):

$ apt-get install vim

Then invoke

$ vimtutor

and plough through the lessons to master this program. There are also numerous tips and tricks on the web, but today, this very nice blog post caught my eye:

Vim anti-patterns

The web page contains a very nice overview over the basic functions of the program. Kudos to the author of the page, and enjoy!

Of course, feel free to ask questions if you are running into trouble.

]]> Rick Santorum For President... Really? tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.43 2012-02-29T20:47:24Z 2012-02-29T20:59:34Z Today, I was alerted to the following nice web page: http://spreadingsantorum.com/ While I don’t exactly think that it matters that much who will be next in the White House, in my personal straw poll, Rick Santorum turns in in the... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html Today, I was alerted to the following nice web page:

http://spreadingsantorum.com/

While I don’t exactly think that it matters that much who will be next in the White House, in my personal straw poll, Rick Santorum turns in in the last place, too. Actually, watching the current election campaign makes me wonder why such a big country fails to produce a halfway sane candidate. Again.

I mean, you can be a Catholic and still be less nuts than he is. Really!

]]> Privilege To Have A Passport tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.42 2012-02-21T23:29:00Z 2012-02-21T23:43:29Z It has long been held as a mark of a free society that every citizen is allowed to travel, wherever they want, and governments that denied their citizens the right to travel, have long been denounced as oppressive regimes. Not... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html It has long been held as a mark of a free society that every citizen is allowed to travel, wherever they want, and governments that denied their citizens the right to travel, have long been denounced as oppressive regimes. Not being entitled to a passport, has long been unthinkable in the west. Today, this gem sheds some light on the state of one of those societies that claims to be the freest ever, worldwide:

http://kdvr.com/2012/02/21/denver-family-stranded-after-passport-denied-because-of-crease/

Quote:

“To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship.”

I can only hope that the guy who made this statement is rather a nobody than a government official. But nevertheless, the interpretation of what a passport is (property of the respective government, not the holder), and what the right to a passport is (a privilege instead of a basic, unalienable right for everyone) should raise awareness with all freedom-loving people in the west about domestic problems.

]]> WebKit als Nachfolger des IE6? tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.41 2012-02-09T22:54:08Z 2012-03-21T01:48:09Z Gerade stolpere ich über einen Artikel, der die aktuelle Fassung des IE6-Problems, nämlich die Fraktionierung des Web, durch die Marktmacht von Browsern auf Mobilgeräten anprangert. Im Kern geht es darum, daß WebKit, als Basis von allen Browsern von Apple und... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html Gerade stolpere ich über einen Artikel, der die aktuelle Fassung des IE6-Problems, nämlich die Fraktionierung des Web, durch die Marktmacht von Browsern auf Mobilgeräten anprangert. Im Kern geht es darum, daß WebKit, als Basis von allen Browsern von Apple und Google, den mit Abstand größten Marktanteil bei Mobilbrowsern hält, und daß die Webdesigner in der Folge nur noch für WebKit designen, nicht aber für andere (Mobil-) Browser. Damit sind wir wieder da, wo wir mit IE6 und FrontPage aufgehört zu haben glaubten: Diese Webseiten funktionieren nicht, wenn man sie mit anderen Browsern anschaut. Technisch liegt dem die unsachgemäße Nutzung von inoffiziellen Leistungsmerkmalen zugrunde, die Apple und Google längst hätten zur Standardisierung einreichen können und sollen. Daß sie dies bisher unterlassen haben, ist im Grunde unlauterer Wettbewerb und droht dementsprechend, einen Rückfall in IE6-Zeiten zu bringen, weil jeder Hersteller irgendwie “kompatibel” sein muß, dieses Ziel aber mit offiziellen Mitteln dank fehlender Standardisierung nicht erreichen kann.

Der Originalartikel erschien in dem Weblog des Autors, der Mitglied des des entsprechenden Standardisierungskommitees im W3C ist:

www.glazman.org

Ich kann seinen Aufruf, entsprechend kaputte Seiten zu boykottieren und nur im Zusammenhang mit diesem Fehler zu erwähnen, nur voll unterstützen, und hoffe, daß meine verehrte Leserschaft dies ebenso sieht.

]]> Coverage Testing in Pyramid tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.40 2012-01-10T11:50:50Z 2012-01-10T12:11:32Z The normal project layout, generated by the scaffolding for Pyramid projects, generates a project structure like this: project/ package/ tests.py (or tests/*) In conjunction with Jenkins, it turns out that nose’s plugin for Cobertura-style output fails to discover the test... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html The normal project layout, generated by the scaffolding for Pyramid projects, generates a project structure like this:

project/
            package/
                          tests.py (or tests/*)

In conjunction with Jenkins, it turns out that nose’s plugin for Cobertura-style output fails to discover the test modules properly. Instead of saying

`$ nosetests --with-xcover`

one needs to also specify the configuration file:

`$ nosetests -c development.ini  --with-xcover`
]]> Plone Setup Gotcha on Debian tag:www.tonimueller.org,2012:/blog//1.39 2012-01-10T11:39:09Z 2012-01-10T11:50:44Z I am using zc.buildout together with a virtualenv to generate my Plone instances. It turns out that Zope requires the Python Profile be installed. However, under Debian, the relevant package, python-profiler has made it to non-free instead of main, due... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html I am using zc.buildout together with a virtualenv to generate my Plone instances. It turns out that Zope requires the Python Profile be installed. However, under Debian, the relevant package, python-profiler has made it to non-free instead of main, due to the licensing of that package. As a result, you only discover that testing doesn’t work until Zope tries to import the profiler, and falls over.

In order to get things to run, you need to do the following:

# Add non-free to the set of repositories that you want to use. Eg.:

  deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian stable main

would have to become

  deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian stable main non-free

# Run apt-get update (obviously). # Now you can apt-get install python-profiler, and you should be all set.

]]> Theism, as Explained by a Mathematician tag:www.tonimueller.org,2011:/blog//1.34 2011-12-24T15:47:00Z 2012-03-06T00:02:30Z For some time, it has irked me how to best expose the logic behind (monotheistic) religion. Not resorting to ZOMGitsCriss’s crude, but accurate “elves up your butt” comparison, or to Pat Condell’s blazing series explaining history, though quite focussed on... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html For some time, it has irked me how to best expose the logic behind (monotheistic) religion. Not resorting to ZOMGitsCriss’s crude, but accurate “elves up your butt” comparison, or to Pat Condell’s blazing series explaining history, though quite focussed on only one such creed, this one relies on simple mathematics, and it does not require more than elementary school level education on your behalf to understand:

Have a few nice days off, altogether. Hope you enjoy your family and friends.

]]> Freedom and the Internet tag:www.tonimueller.org,2011:/blog//1.36 2011-12-24T14:53:38Z 2011-12-24T15:15:11Z It has recently surfaced that an Israely company sold Internet control software to Iran. While the story has an ironic twist, it goes on to highlight some problems with the current trend to “manage” the Internet, detailing the possible adverse... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html It has recently surfaced that an Israely company sold Internet control software to Iran. While the story has an ironic twist, it goes on to highlight some problems with the current trend to “manage” the Internet, detailing the possible adverse effects of such technology on Internet users (like facilitating their arrest and torture). Unfortunately, the article refrains from presenting the facts in a neutral way, but instead points fingers at supposedly rogue states while conveniently ignoring the fact that such technology would work just as well against citizens of Western countries, acting up on their respective governments. They might wake up to quite similar fates when eg. their governments become discontent with the Occupy movement gaining more traction (whatever you might think of that movement in the first place) - and you had your first impressions on that. See for example here, here, or here if you missed it so far. Instead of calling for more vendor-control over such software, the emphasis should be placed on generally banning such software in the first place.

As a techie, I can safely say that often, not having such controls to “monitor” and “manage” usage, but simply using larger, dumber pipes, would probably be equally cost effective, or even cheaper. The only adverse side effect, from the perspective of the carriers and the government, will be that they would have to loosen their grip on the populace (ie, you and me).

Which is basically a good thing, isn’t it?

]]> Finanzkrise tag:www.tonimueller.org,2011:/blog//1.33 2011-12-09T20:31:37Z 2011-12-09T21:04:21Z Der unten verlinkte Beitrag zur Finanzkrise verdient meiner Ansicht nach eine breite Beachtung. Wie man die Vorschläge daraus in dem aktuellen organisatorischen Rahmen umsetzen könnte, wäre noch zu diskutieren. Die Zeit drängt allerdings. Attac: Stellungnahme zur Finanzkrise... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html Der unten verlinkte Beitrag zur Finanzkrise verdient meiner Ansicht nach eine breite Beachtung. Wie man die Vorschläge daraus in dem aktuellen organisatorischen Rahmen umsetzen könnte, wäre noch zu diskutieren. Die Zeit drängt allerdings.

Attac: Stellungnahme zur Finanzkrise

]]> Truncated URLs in Firefox tag:www.tonimueller.org,2011:/blog//1.32 2011-11-28T08:48:49Z 2012-03-21T01:52:14Z For some time, I have been annoyed by recent Firefox’s behaviour to truncate the front of URLs so that “http” or “https” are not shown. I would rather have the full URL shown, and so I poked around about:config and... Toni Müller http://www.tonimueller.org/about.html For some time, I have been annoyed by recent Firefox’s behaviour to truncate the front of URLs so that “http” or “https” are not shown. I would rather have the full URL shown, and so I poked around about:config and found browser.urlbar.trimURLs. Set this to false, and the full URLs are shown in the urlbar (formerly known as location bar).

]]>