[TAG] Department of Homeland Security funding Open Source projects

[Jimmy O'Regan]

Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 08:18:23PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
>> Quoting Benjamin A. Okopnik (ben at linuxgazette.net):
>>
>>> You seem to be postulating a situation in which the servants of
>>> Satan^Wthe DHS plot in the dark of night to destroy the virtue of poor
>>> and innocent idealistic young programmers, in order to break their pure
>>> souls and consign them to a life of... oh, say, working at Micr0s0ft.
>>>
>>> It ain't quite like that. :)
>> Yeah, I figure he knows that, but managed to use it as a thin but
>> barely plausible excuse to sneak in an offtopic political rant lobbed at
>> a captive audience.
> 
> Which provided _me_ with a convenient opportunity to expose a bit of the
> workings of Open Source to our audience - which put us right back on
> topic. Plus, Heather is quite good with those scissors; I'm not worried. :) 

I think everything after the first mail can be easily sorted into my 
pile, so chatter away and we'll see if we can go back on topic :)

> 
>> Anyhow, SATAN's unmaintained -- and, not coincidentally, proprietary.  ;->
>                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> So what you're saying is, it's out of minions?
> 
> Damn, you just can't get good servants these days. Even the servants of
> ultimate evil are now just slightly nasty and somewhat annoying [1].
> What happened to the good old days, when it was all about _truly_ evil
> laughter, chainsaws lubricated by brain slurry, and shambling
> zombies?... oh, right. They went away as soon as I stopped having that
> third serving of beef stew right before bed.

Bring back the Spanish Inquisition, I say!

> 
> 
> [1] Would someone *please* mention British Rail already, just so I don't
> have to throw myself on that grenade?

Can't say I've ever had the British Rail experience, but I'm not a big 
fan of the PKP (Polish Rail) experience -- on my last day in Poland, I 
got on the wrong train (Intercity, instead of one that changed), didn't 
have enough money left to pay for a new ticket, and was kicked off 
unceremoniously in the middle of nowhere (though, as it turns out, quite 
close to a friend's home -- if I'd known, his family would have 
collected me). *That* was an experience -- wondering if I'd be able to 
make my way to the city where my connecting train was, or if I'd be 
stranded.

Fortunately, the woman at the ticket office was friendly, and bent over 
backwards to help me get the right ticket :)

Of course, I almost got myself stranded in Poland a second time that 
day, but that's another story and I didn't set the "X-Blarney" header to 
"To be sure, to be sure" :)

Funny thing was, the next day, on my way back from Dublin, I was 
standing on a train beside a girl just over from Nigeria who had managed 
to get on the wrong train :) (I bought her a ticket -- I wasn't going to 
forget my experience quickly)