Thermal Noise

The world is going BeleniX crazy ! I setup links to the isoHunt torrents on the BeleniX download page a few weeks back and the isoHunt folks responded most kindly by setting up a special box for seeding (Have you ever heard of that ?) and ran a front page article on BeleniX as a model project to use BitTorrent constructively.

As of today, the BeleniX DVD has more than 18000 (Yes Eighteen Thousand) seeds ! How many other torrents can claim as many seeds ? aXXo’s latest torrents have no more than 5000 seeds.

Is that frigging cool or what

P.S: For those who don’t know, isoHunt is the world’s most comprehensive BitTorrent search engine !

Juergen Brendel who commented on my post, about the Global Interpreter Lock, wrote a open letter pleading Guido to consider removing the GIL. Guido gave a seasoned response on his blog today - Anyone willing to do the hard work is free to submit a patch for Py3K AND prove that it does not affect single threaded performance. A fair call on Guido’s part and very generous of him to respond to yet-another-rant-about-the-GIL.

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I am not the biggest Java fan inside or outside of my company. But I detest being on the receiving end of a conversation that involves Sun (I am madly passionate about Sun). So when I met up with a few friends of my friends and heard the standard “Java is dog slow” complaint, I had to invent a (truthful) counterexample.

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The Bureau of Indian Standards has given the finger to OOXML. Despite the BRIC votes being regarded as influential, I doubt if the voting process makes any difference because ESR has expressed concerns that Microsoft has resorted to corruption and bribery inside the ISO.

M$, where do you want to go today ? Judge Thomas Jackson’s Courtroom ? Man, I get vague memories of Enron for some reason ….

Further Reading:

• Why is OOXML defective by design ?
• Say No to OOXML

Update: The WashingtonPost reports on Microsoft’s dirty tactics.

Take a look at the amazing new “Sky” feature on Google Earth

With a magnetic compass and borked old binoculars, I could isolate the constellations easily. With a little investment on a Telescope - Venus, Orion Nebula, Saturn’s Rings and Andromeda should be easy pickings ! Google Earth kicks ass