SuSE and regrades, RPG Reviews, Weirdness by News

[tcpip]

Last Tuesday visited the Melbourne Novell Users Group meeting with imajica_lj which had an interesting "where we are going" news section from Craig Wiley, which was quite pro-opensource, a big change for Novell. The following day however was an ironic decision. Despite being quite fond of OpenSuSE, my desktop machine just ain't up to the hardware requirements. So after careful consideration I've embarked on a radical downgraderegrade of my software to... Red Hat 8.0Debian Sarge. Some might think I'm crazy but it actually suits my needs and the hardware in question.

In RPG news caseopaya ran "Little Fears" on Friday. On Saturday we had a delightful visit from the soon-to-be-wed ser_pounce and wolf_in_winter and played the hilarious Munchkin. Sunday was the Norman Britain AD&D game where the noble venturers sought out the final base of the slavers at the Balaeric Isles (or, in gaming terms), managed to get 2/3rd of the way through module A3. Review-wise on RPG.net I've added Slave Pits of the Undercity, The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Glorantha's Elder Secrets, Megatraveller's Imperial Encyclopedia.

Mixed weirdness. A parrot names N'kisi has a vocabulary of 950 words, correct grammatical structure and a sense of humour, via p_cat. Parroting to his master, Prime Minister JoHo lands in hot water over saying a vote for Barak Obama was, effectively, supporting terrorism. Via trayce with my letter to The Age on the matter. A DNA swab on Pauline Hanson reveals a good third of her genes is mid-eastern and medittereanean. She mentions eras of "rape and pillage" in response. Seriously fubar; A cop ejaculates over a motorist and walks.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

What do you mean?

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Well, if she's going to go on about 'rape and pillage' they should at least provide a more coherent version of her comments.
As written the story implies she believes an ancestor was raped, but without getting a clearer sense of her actual words we are left to trust the Sunday Mail's interpretation.

I mean the opening par mentions she is "... Middle Eastern heritage".

If we discount the Turkish connection, I hardly think a prognosed 9% of Middle Eastern DNA means she is "... of Middle Eastern heritage" - assuming this isn't junk science in the first place.

And, I really distrust an article where "Turkey (is) defined as southeastern European". Most of Turkey is in Asia, after all.

[zey.livejournal.com]

And, I really distrust an article where "Turkey (is) defined as southeastern European". Most of Turkey is in Asia, after all.

Mind you, Turkey is pretty far down the track of EU membership, So "southeastern European" isn't a wildly inaccurate description.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That part is certainly true. The Turkish turks would certainly like to consider themselves part of Europe.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I suspect she wasn't coherent in her comments ;-)

Turkey is a tricky one as the turkic people are geographically from all over the place - these days one will find them in southern Russia, Bulgaria, Khazakstan and Siberia. It's an odd one.

[grailchaser.livejournal.com]

Fairly typical fair from the Media. Misquotes and Hanson are pretty much de rigour if it will create headlines.

I'd like to know how they were distinguishing between Middle Eastern and Greek/Macedonian DNA? Alexander rampaged through the entire Middle East in BC and the Seljeks and Ottomans rampaged through Greece and Eastern Europe in AD. Talk about a melting pot for alleles.

And is Semetic DNA included in the Middle East profile? I bet she'd love to find out she's part Jewish. :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I'd like to know how they were distinguishing between Middle Eastern and Greek/Macedonian DNA

Yeah, that's a good one. Maybe - as a scientist vaguely qualified in the area - you could send them an email of the inquiry and post their response.