Regarding the parliamentary expense claims in Britain: It is interesting that some people, when caught doing something naughty, don't simply recant and say "It is my fault, I did something wrong".

Instead they lament that they were caught and that they have lost career opportunities, reputation, and what not. They do not apologise or feel sorry, and the public for some strange reason accepts that as if it were an apology! Why do we do that? Below are some excerpts from an article in the Guardian about Junior minister Phil Hope, where I have boldfaced some parts

In a statement, the minister said that he was returning the money because of the "massive blow" caused to his reputation by the revelation that he had spent so much furnishing a two-bedroom flat in London.

...

 In his statement Hope said that, although he followed the rules laid down by parliament, he wanted to restore the "trust" and the relationship he had with his constituents. He said the impression given by the revelations about his expenses was "dreadful".

Now as far as I understand the British rules on this, he has not committed outright thievery. But imagine a burglar who gets caught, saying: "I am very sad and sincerely regret the pain and suffering this puts on upon me due the massive blow to my reputation", followed by "It is really dreadful. Well, not the act of burglary per se, but the impression I give by me getting caught".

Now, it would be just as easy for the junior minister to fake remorse and regret, but the strange thing is that apparently he does not need to do that. I suppose there is some transparency in the system :-)

Read more: Junior minister Phil Hope to pay back £42,000 in expenses | Politics | guardian.co.uk

I have tested a number of VNC clients and servers to see which ones handle Alt Gr characters, Copy/Paste and full screen toggle.

With many keyboards it's not possible to type a pipe "|", a backslash "\", curly brackets "{}", square brackets "[]" a commercial at sign "@" or  a tilde "~" without Alt Gr.

The capabilities of the clients vary a lot, also depending on the client/server combination. All clients have been tested with their default settings.

Comparison table

Client Key

GR = Gnome-RDP 0.2.2

XT = xtightvncviewer 1.2.9

TC = Terminal Server Client 0.150

VN = vncviewer 4.1.1

RD = Remote desktop viewer 0.5.1

KD = Krdc 4.0.3

TJ =tightvncviewer (Java applet) 1.3.10 

VW = vncviewer Windows xp 4.1.2

Status

Y = Works

O = Does not work

? = Untested

Servers running on CentOS 5.2, Clients on Ubuntu 8.04

	GR	XT	TC	VN	RD	KD	TJ	vw
Full Screen toggle	O	O	Y	Y	Y	Y	O	Y
vnc server 4.1.2.1 (CentOS Linux 5.2):
View	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Copy/Paste server->client	O	O	Y	Y	Y	Y	O	Y
Copy/Paste client->server	Y	Y	O	O	?	?	?	Y
Control (Edit)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@)	Y	Y	Y	Y	O	O	Y	Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~)	Y	Y	Y	Y	O	O	O	Y
Krfb 3.5.4 server (CentOS Linux 5.2):
View	Y	Y	O	O	Y	Y	?	Y
Copy/Paste server->client	O	O	O	O	Y	Y	?	Y
Copy/Paste client->server	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Y
Control (Edit)	O	Y	O	O	Y	Y	?	Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@)	Y	Y	O	O	O	O	?	Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~)	Y	Y	O	O	O	O	?	Y
vnc server 4.1.2.(Windows XP):
View	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	Y
Copy/Paste server->client	O	O	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	Y
Copy/Paste client->server	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Y
Control (Edit)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	?	Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@)	Y	Y	Y	Y	O	Y	?	Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~)	O	O	Y	O	O	O	?	Y

A comparison of VNC Clients on Ubuntu Linux regarding Alt Gr, Copy/Paste and full screen toggle support

I control a CentOS box (vnc-server-4.1.2-14.el5_3.1) with VNC , sometimes from Windows XP and sometimes from Ubuntu 8.04. With Windows there are no problems, but with Ubuntu the VNC clients have a tendency to ignore the Alt Gr key on my Swedish keyboard, which means there is no way among other things to type a pipe "|", a backslash "\", curly brackets "{}", square brackets "[]" a commercial at sign "@" or  a tilde "~". 

For those unfamiliar with the Alt Gr key, the right Alt key is replaced with the Alt Gr key on many keyboard layouts where more characters need to be typable than in English.

I decided to install all vnc clients I could find in the Ubuntu repositories set up on my machine and see which ones did work and which did not with Alt Gr. It's the ones that are checked in this screen shot:

My VNC server also runs the VNC Config program (vncconfig) for Copy/Paste integration:

To see if it is important what kind of VNC server you are running, I also test out the clients with KDEs Desktop sharing server, krfb (KDE 3.5.4):

With Krfb as a server, Terminal Server Client and vncviewer completely fail on my setup. Use xtightvncviewer with the Krfb server if you want Alt Gr functionality.

I also threw in a VNC server on Windows. No client on Ubuntu of the ones tested, can handle all servers with all capabilities intact.

Gnome-RDP 0.2.2

Gnome-RDP does the job although its GUI is a bit barebones with the server dialog turning up near the top left of the screen. It seems to rely on TightVNC as its viewer component. It is called xtightvncviewer. You are supposed to be able to switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

However Full Screen does not work. F8 also brings up copy/paste support. It works client to server, but not server to client, which is the reverse of the vncviewer based clients.

Do note that Gnome-RDP uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903.

Test: Gnome-RDP types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server: Gnome-RDP cannot control the server even when remote user is allowed to control the keyboard and mouse.

xtightvncviewer 1.2.9

xtightvncviewer does the job but needs to be invoked from the command line.  You are supposed to be able to switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

However Full Screen does not work. F8 also brings up copy/paste support. It works client to server, but not server to client, which is the reverse of the vncviewer based clients.

xtightvncviewer uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903.

Test: xtightvncviewer types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server: Same functionality as with the VNC server.

Terminal Server Client 0.150

Terminal Server Client is a Gnome program that can do VNC among other things. With VNC servers, it is actually just a front end to the vncviewer command line program. It can do Alt Gr characters if you go into preferences under "Local resources" and type the language code of your Alt Gr keyboard (in my case "sv").

Incidentally, if you use vncviewer directly from the command line it just works without having to specify a keyboard layout.

You can switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

Do note that Terminal Server Client does not use the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:5903 means host vnc port 3. Copy/paste does work server to client, but not client to server, which is the reverse of the tightvncviewer based clients.

Test: Terminal Server Client types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Terminal Server Client crashes when trying to access the server "Rect too big".

vncviewer 4.1.1

vncviewer is a command line program.

You can switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

vncviewer uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903. Copy/paste does work server to client, but not client to server, which is the reverse of the tightvncviewer based clients.

Test: vncviewer types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): vncviewer crashes when trying to access the server "Rect too big".

Remote Desktop Viewer

Remote Desktop Viewer is a Gnome program also called Vinaigre in the Ubuntu repository description for it. Remote Desktop Viewer allows you to switch between windowed and fullscreen mode with F11. However it does not work with the Alt Gr key, and there seems to be no way of enabling it.

Test: Remote Desktop Viewer fails to type "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" and instead types the key as if the Alt Gr key was not depressed, which renders "<", "+" and "'" (single quote) respectively on my Swedish Alt Gr-dependent keyboard

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Same as with the vnc server. Copy/paste works. Alt Gr does not work.

Krdc on Ubuntu 8.04

Krdc is a KDE program that looks very nice and allows you to switch easily between windowed and fullscreen mode with a very nice semi transparent tool bar that comes down when you reach the center of the top edge of the screen with the pointer when in full screen mode.

However Krdc does not work with the Alt Gr key, and there seems to be no way of enabling it:

There is a special keys dialog:

But either the Alt Gr keys are too special or not special enough, because it does not type them.

Test: Krdc ignores "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" and instead types nothing with my Swedish Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Same as with the vnc server.

Krdc on CentOS 5.2

On CentOS Linux 5.2, however Alt Gr keys work and Copy/Paste works in both directions connecting to CentOS 5.2 based server.

Tightvncviewer as Java applet

Tightvncviewer is also available as a Java applet. Copy/paste does not work. There is no F8 menu but a couple of buttons. There is no full screen mode in the Java applet.

Test: Tightvncviewer (Java applet) corectly types "|",  backslash "\" but fails on  tilde "~" and caret "^",  both characters where you need to type a space after, to get the character stand alone.

Vncviewer Windows xp 4.1.2

Everything works across all servers.

Summary

I was going to write that you either get an Alt Gr-compatible VNC client or you get the ability to switch between full screen and windowed mode on the fly. However the underlying components to Terminal Server client (vncviewer) and Gnome-RDP (xtightvncviewer) do have full screen toggle functionality via F8, it just not documented in Terminal Server client or Gnome-RDP. However in the xtightvncviewer and by extension Gnome-RDP the Clipboard and full screen functions in the F8 menu do not work on my setup.

I wondered if the clients would work differently if i used a different vnc server, so I also tried the KDE desktop sharing and a Windows VNC server. The results vary quite a lot. No client handles all servers. I believe changing settings in the clients as to change compression and other quality paramters may give improvements in compatibility, but I tried every client in its default setting. What seems to work is:.

• This post started out as a test of Linux clients, but it turns out that the only client that handles all servers and all capabilities is Vncviewer or Windows... Having said that, on Linux:
• Terminal Server Client, since it has both Alt Gr and copy/paste support, and you can toggle between full screen and windowed mode with F8.
• Or you can just directly use the vncviewer command line program that Terminal Server Client relies upon. You will have no bookmarks (actuall session files) though as you get with Terminal Server Client. However it does not work with some Alt Gr characters against a Windows VNC server.
• Gnome-RDP, or xtightvncviewer directly if you can live without Copy/Paste and Full Screen support since it has  Alt Gr support.
• xtightvncviewer is the only one of the clients that does Alt Gr and works with KDE desktop sharing on my setup

In mice, the treatment helped restore long-term memory and improve learning for new tasks, Nature reports.

Läs mer: BBC NEWS | Health | Trial drugs 'reverse' Alzheimer's

Now Marinee Chuah, Thierry VandenDriessche, Eyayu Belay and colleagues at the Catholic University of Leuven say they've developed a non-viral approach that overcomes some limitations associated with viral vectors. The technique is based on non-viral genetic elements called transposons -- mobile DNA elements -- that the scientists constructed to carry therapeutic genes into the target cell DNA, eliminating the need for viral vectors.

Läs mer: New method of gene therapy is developed - UPI.com

In The Guardian you can read yet a description of what supposedly sets Apple apart from the competition. Now these descriptions have a tendency to talk about Apple's advantage as one of "polish", "design" and stuff like that. This is is not what Apple is about. Any organisation can put "polish" or "design" on their products, these concepts are superficial, polish even so by definition.

The success of Apple is about user interface design principles, among which one is that people prefer to see, recognize and act, than to remember and type, and I believe Apple's succes is also even more about how they view people.

The Apple philosophy is to view human individuals as fundamentally creative people, who want to do creative things. I do not have the books at hand but I believe this view of the individual is explicitly spelled out (or used to be) in their user interface design guidelines.

Competitors can put as much spit and polish on their products as they want, they still don't get the deeper meaning it seems. Apple's philosophy also helps them retain and motivate talented developers.

 "It is not as though Apple invented a totally new technology," says Adam Leach, principal analyst at consultancy Ovum. "What they did was re-think the whole mobile experience and produce a very polished experience compared with what people were used to."

Den årliga pressfrihetsrapporten från Freedom House har anlänt och de nordiska länderna placerar sig i topp. Israel(!), Italien(!) och Hong Kong klassas inte längre som att de har full pressfrihet. Överhuvudtaget har utvecklingen gått lite bakåt i världen.

There are particularly worrisome trends in East Asia, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and North Africa

Läs mer: freedomhouse.org: Freedom of the Press 2009 Survey Release

Ja. det här är ju bara en experts preliminära utlåtande, men Ralp Tripp på University of Georgia tror att H1N1-viruset liknar influensa-viruset som gick runt jorden 1957. Det skulle innebära att äldre människor har en viss immunitet. I så fall kan det faktum att yngre drabbas hårdare ha att göra med brist på immunitet snarare än på en s k cytokin-storm i ett starkt immunförsvar. Och det vore ju goda nyheter.

I samma artikel nämns också att viruset tycks sakna vissa aminosyror som ger en "viruschock" i lungorna.

Ralph Tripp, an influenza expert at the University of Georgia, said that his early analysis of the virus' protein-making instructions suggested that people exposed to the 1957 flu pandemic -- which killed up to 2 million people worldwide -- may have some immunity to the new strain

(Hittat via DN faktiskt, tack för att ni börjat direktlänka till externa källor!)

We're also actively monitoring travelers at our land, sea, and air ports. We're watching them for signs of illness, and we have appropriate protocols in place to deal with those who are sick. Precautions are being taken to protect travelers and border personnel. Anyone exhibiting symptoms is being referred to an isolation room where they can be evaluated by a public health official before proceeding to their destruction.

Från Department of Homeland Security i USA:s webbsida.

Läs mer: DHS: Remarks by Secretary Napolitano at Today’s Media Briefing on the H1N1 Flu Outbreak and the U.S. Government’s Response

Hittat via:

Department of Homeland Security to destroy swine flu victims • The Register

Telekomjätten Ericsson överraskade marknaden på torsdagen med en rappport som var bättre än väntat. Resultatet slutade på 2,6 miljarder kronor. Aktien faller brant.

(min fetstil)

Läs mer: Ericsson klår prognosen - Ny Teknik

Auto-tune är en teknik för att sångare att sjunga rent på inspelningar, men den kan också användas för att "tonsätta" talspråk. Här är det gjort med Winston Churchill.

Churchill gives a dazzling rendition of his 1941 proclamation, aided by wayward time travelers. New facebook page, with sound files and goodies:

Läs mer: YouTube - Winston Churchill backed by band from the future

Överhuvudtaget så tror jag att Internet intellektualiserar samhället, genom att ge möjlighet att använda datorer och nätverk som kognitiva hjälpmedel för att fokusera på och analysera saker som bara ett fåtal tidigare hade sinne, tid och läggning för att göra. De texter som är bra, även gamla, återupptäcks och används. Alla älskar en utmaning, om den är på lagom nivå, och Internet kan ge det och samtidigt riva ned elfenbenstorn som tidigare gjort en del ämnen svårtillgängliga.

Den mannen tänker bra den där John Hawks:

I think the right model is the premium satellite channel model. What does it take to be the HBO of genomics? It takes compelling content -- new, fascinating content that people are willing to subscribe to. There ought to be a lot more video. It ought to connect people to subjects they already know are deep and important, like (if I could be so bold to suggest) our evolutionary history. The content is the hook -- it gets people thinking about how interesting the data are, how they connect them to other people, how much they'd like to know more. A multi-hundred dollar purchase is a very high barrier to entry. Where's the $25 service that someone can buy to get involved at a lower level? Where's GENOME the magazine?

Läs mer: Turning ACGT into poetry | john hawks weblog

Raenette Taljaard skriver i foreign Policy om Sydafrikas utveckling. En av hennes poänger är att de stöd utifrån som pumpade in resurser i landet för att klara transitionen från diktatur och apartheid till demokrati kanske drogs ner för snabbt? Man tyckte att allting verkade gå så bra att man packade och gick:

In the 1990s, vast amounts of bilateral and multilateral assistance poured into South Africa to ensure a smooth transition of power between the apartheid and democratic regimes, peaking at $541 million in official development assistance in 1999. International expertise and financing helped foster a strong civil service, legislature, civil society, and independent media. But the world's attention soon waned. South Africa was too rapidly deemed a full-fledged democracy, and various forms of assistance dropped off between 1999 and 2002. Newly created South African institutions were left to their own devices. Even the country's courageous trade liberalization program met with less reciprocation than hoped for abroad.

Läs mer: Foreign Policy: Think Again: South Africa

Istället för att fråga sig hur man militärt ska bekämpa talibaner i Pakistan kanske man hellre skulle fråga sig varför de får fäste där överhuvudtaget? I en artikel i New York Times menar man att Pakistan är ett feodalt land som inte har klarat av att göra jordreformer eller förse de fattiga med god utbildning sedan självständigheten. Detta bereder vägen för talibanerna.

Unlike India after independence in 1947, Pakistan maintained a narrow landed upper class that kept its vast holdings while its workers remained subservient, the officials and analysts said. Successive Pakistani governments have since failed to provide land reform and even the most basic forms of education and health care. Avenues to advancement for the vast majority of rural poor do not exist.

Läs mer: Taliban Exploit Class Rifts in Pakistan - NYTimes.com

For those who want to stay in the city, our experts also like Copenhagen in Denmark, along with Eastern European cities of Ljubljana in Slovenia and Budapest in Hungary. What Budapest lacks in Mediterranean weather it makes up for in price, with an apartment costing well under $100,000. A Slovenian apartment, by contrast, is likely to cost well north of $200,000.

Läs mer: Europe's Most Idyllic Places To Live - Forbes.com

Recensenten Dan Jönsson anmäler en bok på DN, "In Defense of Lost Causes" av Slavoj Zizek. Recensionen handlar bland annat om att det där med kommunism och andra totalitära ideologier ändå ger hopp. Dels återgett som sammanfattningar av vad Zizek skriver men också i Jönssons slutkläm:

Det är den stora skillnaden, den stora uppgiften. Krisen är inte en gräns, utan en öppning.

Jönsson återger Zizek:

Även om det är ett obestridligt faktum att nittonhundratalets revolutionära experiment mynnade ut i några av seklets mest mardrömslika misslyckanden, skriver Zizek, så är det inte hela sanningen. I den revolutionära politiken rymdes nämligen också ett verkligt befriande moment, utan vilket all politisk fantasi går förlorad. Kommunismen visade trots allt att det är möjligt att förverkliga en annan ordning. Vad Zizek vill hävda är helt enkelt att en vänster som på allvar vill bryta sig ur dagens postpolitiska dödläge aldrig kan räkna med att slippa undan risken för framtida misslyckanden. Som han säger med ett berömt Beckettcitat: ”Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Jag undrar vad det är som gör att en del som kallar sig intellektuella så gärna vurmar för totalitära ideologier, vare sig som recensenter eller författare. Min bäste hypotes är att de ser sig som en del av en stark intellektuell tradition, och när de inte får sin plats i solen så vill de ha ett annat samhällssystem som de tror ger detta. Se min text "Pinter & intellectuals of Europe" för mer om detta.

En bildtext till recensionen lyder:

Kommunismen gav inte precis lycka åt alla men borde försöka igen, menar Slavoj Zizek

Den texten är så rolig att den kan vara ett försenat aprilskämt.

Läs mer: Slavoj Zizek: ”In Defense of Lost Causes” - DN.se

Felaktig text raderad: Pippi Långstrump är ingen bra ingång till Clave.

Det finns massor av kända färgämnen, varav ungefär 600 är så kallade kartenoider. Det är en familj av olika molekyler som ger upphov till orange, gul och röd färg. De är också kraftfulla antioxidanter som anses förebygga sjukdomar som hjärt-kärlproblem, synfel, demens, dålig blodcirkulation och cancer. En av de kändare är lykopen, som finns i bland annat tomater.

Läs mer: Sätt färg på tallriken | Kropp & hälsa

De är inte kloka, de där ryssarna är ögonblicksbilder från det moderna Ryssland. Svenska Yle:s korrespondent Anna-Lena Laurén skriver inkännande om dagens ryska samhälle, om ryssar och kärlek, ryssar och vänskap, ryssar och pengar. Ryssland är ett kalejdoskopiskt samhälle som kräver tid och ansträngning att förstå sig på, och författaren erkänner öppet att hon fortfarande har stunder då hon inte begriper ett dugg. Boken är skriven med humor och värme, ilska och passion, glädje och förundran – känslor som man inte kan leva utan i Ryssland. Illustrerad.

Hittat via Kniivilä

The below comment could fit a lot of discussions and topics

Läs mer: FARK.com: (4324368) Dear US Citizens: Sorry we mistook you for an illegal immigrant and deported you. Our bad. Sincerely, US Law Enforcement

Digg. com har börjat att länka vidare till sidor inte på normalt civiliserat sätt utan att gömma den sidan man vill till inuti en ram. Detta gör att man inte kan bokmärka url:en man kommer till och en massa andra besvär. Förhoppningsvis försvinner skräpet snart, men fram tills dess kan det vara bra att veta hur man kan ta bort den. Det finns en kryssruta längst till höger i verktygslisten. Om man för pekaren precis til vänster om den så uppenbarar sig en liten meny med en triangel på:

Om man klickar där kan man ställa in så att digg inte ger  verktygslisten. Jag tror den gör det genom att sätta en cookie i webbläsaren

1. Go to the Digg Toolbar on top of the browser (see pic). 2. Click the small dropdown arrow, which can be found in the right corner between DiggBar Feedback and close buttom(X). 3. Click Always Hide the toolbar, now Digg Toolbar will be turn off.

Läs mer: How to Disable Digg Toolbar Forever