Monthly Archives: October 2013

  • GNU Make 4 released

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    GNU head imageThe GNU Project has announced the release of version 4 of GNU Make, the software’s latest stable version.

    Make is a utility that automatically builds executable programs and libraries from source code by reading files called makefiles which specify how to derive the target program.

    This latest version provides support for Guile integration as an embedded scripting language for makefiles, as well as other new features and many bug fixes and performance improvements. There are also some backward-incompatibilities.

    Potential users are advised to read the NEWS file that comes with the GNU make distribution for complete details on changes visible to the user.

    Make can be downloaded from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/.

  • Linux for Astronomers

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    Distro Astro is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu/Linux Mint which aims to cover the requirements of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts.

    The project has announced the release of version 1.0.2 of its distribution, codenamed Ceres.

    Distro Astro has features for almost all astronomy uses — from observatories, planetariums – and for all users from professional researchers to astro-photographers and amateur enthusiasts; and that’s why it’s called Linux for Astronomers. The project’s website has a full review of Distro Astro’s features.

    Distro Astro’s ISO (size: 1.9 GB) can be downloaded from South Common Observatory in East Sussex.

    screenshot of program running on Distro Astro

  • BRH’s autumn programme announced

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    pirate flag of BalckbeardBristol Radical History Group have announced their autumn programme of talks, gigs and meetings. Full details can be found at http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/.

    The events themselves are as follows:

    ‘We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the drains’: An alternative explanation of the public debt

    Speaker: Alan Brown
    Date: Wednesday 9th October
    Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Venue: The Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ (map)
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/we-are-all-in-the-gutter/

    Remembering the Real WWI: Public meeting

    Date: Tuesday 15th October 2013
    Time: 7.00-9.00pm
    Venue: The Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ
    Price: Free
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/remembering-real-wwi-public-meeting/

    The Black Revolution

    Speakers: Jonina Abron-Ervin & Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin
    Date: Wednesday 16th October 2013
    Time: 7.00pm
    Venue: Malcolm X Centre, 141 City Rd, Bristol, BS2 8YH (map)
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/black-revolution/

    Global Revolts and Uprisings

    Speakers: George Katsiaficas and Geronimo
    Date: Thursday 17th October, 2013
    Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Venue: The Hydra Bookshop 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/global-revolts-uprisings/

    Justseeds, Radical Art: Exhibition and discussion

    Speakers: Justseeds Art Collective (New York)
    Date: Tuesday 22nd October 2013
    Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Venue: The Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/just-seeds-radical-art-group/

    James Connolly Songs of Freedom with Mat Callahan, Clayton Blizzard and Commander McNeil

    Date: Wednesday 23rd October 2013
    Time: 8.00 pm til late
    Venue: The Plough, 223 Easton Rd, Easton, Bristol BS5 0EG ‎(map)
    Price: TBC
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/james-connolly-songs-freedom/

    Remembering the Dublin Lockout 1913-2013

    Speaker: John Newsinger
    Date: Thursday 14th November 2013
    Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Venue: Tony Benn House, Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6AY (map)
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/remembering-dublin-lockout-1913-2013/

    Book Launch: In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines and the Crisis of Capitalism

    Speaker: George Caffentzis
    Date: Tuesday 19th November 2013
    Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Venue: The Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ
    Price: Donation
    http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/in-letters-of-blood-and-fire/

  • Bristol Post Balls – the vampire article

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Tech

    Vampires are a mainstay of horror films. Seemingly dead, they rise again unbidden under the right circumstances – usually nightfall – to carry on their (non-)existence.

    The press equivalent of the vampire is the story which is initially posted online, only to be deleted (with its expectant reader served up a 404 error page instead. Ed.) and then reappear at a later date.

    This happened with the Bristol Post story featured in the screenshot below.

    screenshot of Bristol Post story
    Controversial or what? The Bristol Post’s latest vampire article

    This story originally appeared online first thing on Friday morning, only to be pulled a couple of hours later. It has now risen from the dead bearing a Sunday timestamp.

    Why was it pulled in the first place, some may be wondering, particularly as it seems like a fairly innocuous tale of an elderly gentleman moaning about parking and especially since those with an intimate knowledge of the Bristol Post will be well aware of its passion for the motor car and all matters motoring.

    Indeed, still on all things motoring, the only matter upon which the Post has not offered fawning support to Bristol’s elected mayor George Ferguson is the red-trousered one’s plans to introduce Residents’ Parking Zones, which the paper and its readers have attacked with gusto. One would have thought that George was proposing a murder of first-born children not some modest proposals to counter the dominance of the motor car in our urban environment.

    Whether vampire stories feed on blood or some other substance or medium is as yet unknown.

  • Fundraiser for Felix Road tomorrow

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    Tomorrow (5th October) the City Academy in Russell Town Avenue (map) will be holding a free community event from 12.00 noon to 4.00 pm. All proceeds from the event will be going to the campaign to save Felix Road Adventure Playground (posts passim), which is threatened with closure.

    flyer for Felix Road event

    There will be live music & performances, food, an active zone including bouncy castle & soft play and face painting.

    For further information contact Ananda Kellett by email on kelleta (at) cityacademy.bristol.sch.uk or telephone 0117 9413800.

  • Berlin geodata now available free of charge

    Steve WoodsOpen Data, Politics, Tech

    open data stickersThe official geodata of the Berlin Land Surveying Administration are now available free of charge, Heise reports. The data, such as the automated property register map, topographical official map series, aerial photographs and rectified digital photographs derived from these and information about standard land values, may be used for any commercial or non-commercial purpose according to a notice from Berlin’s Senate Administration for City Development & the Environment. The data can be acquired from the geodata portal.

    The previous complex terms of use have been abolished and replaced by new uniform terms of use, which permit commercial and non-commercial use of the data free of charge. Modest charges are levied for the provision of data that can only be made available offline. Fees are still charged for official information and extracts from the land register, as well as for permits and certifications.

    “Social topics relevant to the future such as climate, energy, mobility or demography are dependent on geodata. Berlin’s implementation of its open data initiative is being continued with the release of official geodata and an important contribution being made to the continuing opening up of the State,” explains Ephraim Gothe, State Secretary for Urban Development and the Environment.

    Mathias Schindler of Wikimedia Deutschland sees the move as a small revolution. “In particular, the (meta)data may be copied, printed out, used in presentations, processed and passed on to third parties, merged with one’s own or others’ data, associated with independent data sets and integrated in internal and external business processes and applications in public and non-public electronic networks – all with a source attribution obligation”, he explains in a blog post.

    The Berlin Senate published its open data strategy in February 2012. It set up its open data portal – the first in Germany in April 2012.

  • Italy’s Macerata province halfway through LibreOffice migration

    Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Tech

    the LibreOffice logoJoinup, the EU’s public sector open source news site, reports that Italy’s Macerata province is halfway its migration to the free and open source LibreOffice suite as a replacement for Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is currently used on 230 of its 450 workstations. The migration is expected to be completed in December next year.

    The same article also reports that Windows is being replaced by Linux as the workstation operating system used for non-specialised tasks on the provincial government’s PCs.

    These moves are expected to save the provincial authority some €150,000 in 2014. For Italy as a whole, the Asca news agency states the LibreOffice 2013 Conference in Milan was told that migrating the public sector to LibreOffice could save the public purse €300-500 mn.

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