Theme 1 for today: Perl problems

Version 1.3 of the Netgear FM114P router has an unwelcome feature: whenever I use the CPAN shell to download a Perl module, it crashes, every time, taking my Internet connection with it. Downgrading to the 1.1 firmware fixes this, thankfully. Netgear are working on a fix. It’s a really great bit of kit otherwise.

Perl 5.8 has broken a number of my apps, including Fingerbob, and also broken Perl Cookbook example code:

while (accept (CLIENT, SERVER)) { # do something here with the client connection }

This used to loop, but now it doesn’t. It’s all because of the new threading system in Perl 5.8. It’s not hard to fix but it was tricky to hunt down - I didn’t expect Cookbook code to fail and couldn’t find this issue in the Perl changelog. New, much improved version of Fingerbob due soon.

First Flesh-eating squirrel stalks streets of Knutsford. Then Granddad guns down terror squirrel

It’s the British equivalent of ‘Jaws’.

Memories of falling slowly. It’s probably an adjusted, partially false memory. Maybe the brains of young children sometime store the movement information in memories badly. I’ve never remembered this before reading the first item on this Fortean Times discussion thread, and I was quite startled to remember the sensation so vividly. Weird. Or at least, I can’t remember ever remembering this before… It “happened” to me too.

Link: It Happened To Me: Flying High

Yes, as seen everywhere else. Public Enemy this time. “You got a rip in your couch!” Eh?

Link: Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man

Peta recently launched a campaign to persuade the notoriously unhealthy children of Scotland to cut back on dairy products. The campaign features someone handing out leaflets and, for some reason, a man dressed as a cow.

Things didn’t go as planned in Aberdeen. Around 100 chanting and banner wielding children attacked the Peta campaigners and drenched them with milk.

I think that cow milk is a disgusting substance which causes cows to suffer and damages the health of humans, but this is such a good story. Many children smoke, have unprotected sex and sniff glue. They ignore adult advice even when the facts are established and obvious. School children are not going to listen to a man in a cow suit. University students will, as they have the concept of irony.

I think Peta should focus their dairy campaign on the people must likely to accept it - well educated adults. Or invest in a riot van disguised a cow, maybe with a water cannon loaded with soy milk…

Link: Milk protest turns sour

(I can vouch for the claim that milk makes people “phlegmy”. I’ve blown my nose once in over a year. I still get colds, but the phlegmy symptoms have vanished.)

Here’s one way to get the hardware and software you need to do your job. I don’t think this has reached the UK yet…

Link: Romanians to sell sperm to save jobs

New GTA game released “amid fears children could be exposed to its violence”. I’m more worried about the effect it has on graphic artists.

Link: Grand Theft Auto sequel hits UK

BMG, a large music distribution company, have declared that soon all of their music CDs in Europe will feature “copy protection”. There is no way to add copy protection to a real compact disc, it just isn’t in the standards. What they are actually doing is selling deliberately damaged CDs that will be rejected by more sophisticated CD players.

This means your new music CD will not play on your computer, your console, or maybe even in your car’s CD player. Some DVD players and sophisticated CD players will also reject the CD. Sometimes these “protected” CDs can permanently damage your computer.

                                                                                            BMG are doing this because they think it will limit music piracy. It won't. None of the "copy protection" schemes can stop a skilled computer user from copying the CD's music. When just one of them posts the music to the Internet, it can be copied just as much as before. All this stupid scheme will do is rip-off consumers and possibly damage their equipment.

                                                                                            If you buy a CD that won't play in your computer, console or DVD player,  look on the case. If it has a Compact Disc logo you can return it at any point, as it's been sold to you illegally: it isn't a real compact disc. Please take it back and tell the shop why.

                                                                                            You can get more information about the threats to consumer freedom at <a href="http://uk.eurorights.org/issues/cd/">The Campaign for Digital Rights.</a>

                                                                                            Link: <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/27960.html">'No more music CDs without copy protection,' claims BMG unit</a>

I’ll probably not get to this extraordinary exhibition in London, I just can’t afford the journey. It’s a pity the website offers little beyond advertising.

The website for the Dream Anatomy exhibition at the U.S. National Library of Medicine is much better, with many marvelous, high quality images. It’s an online edition of the exhibition.

Link: Dream Anatomy Gallery

Did the game’s designers intend people to have sex with it, or is this just some particularly strange Japanese thing? I expect this to fly off the importer’s shelves.

Link: Sex in Games: Rez+Vibrator