unix history – everything you wanted to know about unix genealogy but were afraid to print...

do the ballmer dance (via the register).

current watchlist.

dave winer: "i designed features of word, excel, powerpoint and the windows file system browser. my lawyers suggested that we file a patent on these inventions, but i felt then as i feel now that it is unethical for a software developer to try to prevent competition that way".

certainly, this is a point of view i can appreciate. however, it turned out many times that democracy needs to be well-fortified. just like it's nonsense to talk with neo-nazis (at least in most situations; and apologies for that bad comparison).

the people being able to file a patent for their work probably should think about an alternative way of protecting their opus against compainies like microsoft while still offering it to the equally open-minded community...

bulgarienzeugs.

camp catatonia recommends "the young ones". i had the opportunity to watch them on video years ago together with mark lycette. mark is a big fan of them and so would i be if they just were broadcasted on a tv station near me.

oops, what's going on at zeit.de (screenshot)?

update: gosh, i got an answer instantly:

From: Martin Hitz Subject: "oops, what's going on at zeit.de (screenshot)?"

Cheers, Martin Hitz (former managing editor of NZZ Online) Zurich, Switzerland

and i thought i was fast grabbing the screen shot... but anyway, why was zeit.de bare-naked to the xml-bone at that moment?

not so boring: "multiple space use and evoluting urbanism".

already three days ago i got mail from adam curry. he found my li'l rss box viewer and he offered me to host it at his "databarn".

what happened in the last week: intimidation. although one might think of "intimate" now, i won't give any details about the worst thing that i did to myself since a while. i believe that most worst things do not simply happen to oneself. a worst thing is when you do something stupid taking the full responsibility for your action. this tears me down, yes, but on the other hand it was just the last straw that broke this camel's back.

well, last friday i reported that they turned off the gas in the house i am living in. although this was quite a plight to step under an ice-cold shower in the morning (at least before summer showed some understanding here), i got more goosebumps when i heard today that they found 8 (eight) leaks in the gas main and that they needed three expertises until they were allowed to refill the pipes. the roof is on fire! i deserve a warm shower now and the poor installer guys deserve their week-end after a hard-working week.

and my flat deserves some cleaning, too. it's still messy from the plumber guy who had to remove a congestion in the water drain two levels below. yes, this has to be done from the top (that's where i live) and certainly by de-installing the toilet seat. he was so kind to remove the roughest stains afterwards, but it's hard to purge with cold water... and needless, anyway, the construction outside the flat will continue and the dirt is just like magnetic for clean space.

i also tried to order two flight tickets to berlin. while this normally is not a big deal with lastminute.at, this time it was almost a desaster. i spent two days on the phone talking to a girl who was new at the office trying to find other cheap alternatives due to overlooked limitations, to correct invalid bookings or simply to find a possibility at all to get there.

i had to do this with a mobile phone i got as substitute for the one i always forget at home that needed to be repaired. today i was informed i could exchange this crappy second-handy with the repaired one. but when i went to the store all i got a dirty, used device they called "new" with damaged keys. see you in another ten days.

and surrounded by all of this, i felt really annoyed. not only annoyed by the tv programme or a book or a person. generally annoyed. i was bored by all that talking and thinking about the web, computers, mobile services; palled by the city i live in, the politics of germany, austria and italy, my own thoughts and scarce ideas. which seem to be no ideas at all. these altogether bored the pants off myself. how about some vacations, my dear?

and even more. but i spare myself the other things, mainly due to the fact that i want to keep up my weblog motto (it's enough private life exhibited already and others need that space more desperately). there are times when i feel like there are "too many 'toos'", as a good friend summarizes it. and sometimes this can lead to some radical consequences. ooh, that sounds threatening...