This just in, water on Mars!

Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) says so, but it does not make it true. Microsoft Vista just happens to be bundled really well in a sticky manner which makes it very hard for a consumer to get rid of the bundled Microsoft product (Vista) when buying a new computer. The sales of computers are soaring. Therefore statistics will show that Vista is “selling really well”.

In any case, the invisible hand of the market does not agree with Mr. Ballmer’s view.
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For the benefit of my friends who have yet to embrace the beautiful Finnish language, here is a translation of Finland’s Eurovision Song Contest 2008 song, “Miss� miehet ratsastaa” by Ter�sbetoni.
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Pronssia tuli j��kiekossa Ruotsia vastaan, ja hyv� niin! Muuten olisin varmasti kuullut Suomen tappiosta mainintoja koko loppuvuoden, ellen pidemp��nkin.

Asiasta aasinsillan kautta perinteisesti kukkaruukkuun. Termi “finnj�vel”, jonka suora k��nn�s on “suomipiru” mutta jonka voisi ehk� suomentaa k�sitteellisesti l�hemmin “perkeleen suomalainen”, on mielest�ni hauska ilmaisu. Koska en l�yt�nyt ruotsinkielisest� Wikipediasta mink��nlaista finnj�velin analysointia esimerkiksi sen etymologiasta, ajattelin etsi� sit� netist�. T�ss�p� siis hieman lukemista: The birth of the Finn-devil.

PS. Anssi Kela -nimeni on Jani Kela.

Regular CAPTCHAs work pretty much with single values (single words). Finding out the single values using a computer is often not a big problem, therefore many CAPTCHAs are cracked and don’t serve their purpose really well. But what if one were to up the level of complexity by introducing multiple partially overlapping values?
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Ulkomailla tulee tietoa Suomen asioista vain suomalaisen median kautta.

Lujaa n�ytt�� menev�n ainakin eduskunnassa, sill� Iltalehdess� oli (kuulemma) t�llainen maininta: “Eduskunnan p��t�s ryhty� suosimaan pornovapaita hotelleja virkamatkoilla on jyrk�ss� ristiriidassa talon sis�isen k�yt�nn�n kanssa.”

Changes: some of the “obscure” syntax groups (like the spellchecker groups) now should be harmonious with the rest of the colors. Also Tablines look nice now – I don’t use them so Tablines (and related groups) were unfortunately very overlooked…

Version number was upped to 2.0.

Note, I tested it with Vim 7.1.241.

Get it at the Zenburn page. I’m going to upload it to vim.sf.net also when I find my account info :)

My jaw really dropped when I saw this: an elephant paints a painting. This is simply just awesome. Check .

In the background you can see other elephants painting other things, and the keepers hauling some of the finished paintings for people to see. Therefore I don’t think the elephants have been taught to draw just one thing. It seems that the same elephant indeed draws the same thing, exactly the same way every time. In other words, it’s just repeating a learned pattern. It’s not creating the picture.

Well, I still want to say that the painting is very sweet: an elephant carrying a red-orange flower in its trunk. Even though the elephant did not use its creativity to make it from nothing.

If you have Intel gear in your Linux-powered computer, you might be interested in doing a little power saving, as explained in the Less Watts page. It’s Intel-specific, and run by Intel’s Open Source Technology Center.

I could not find this functionality in WordPress, so I rolled my own. It’s like the simplest WordPress plugin in the world. With it you can hide (password) protected pages from being displayed. The plugin lives here.