Someone Please Teach Kim Sengupta to Read and Write English

Some evil bastards brutally killed one of the true underappreciated heroes of our day, as told in a pidgin piece in the Independent:

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

And that's really disappointing. It's only marginally more disappointing that the disgusting grammar in the piece will only serve to insult the fine work of the person whose story is being told.

Fear the small-minded gunmen led by their respective Afghani or American warlords; don't fear the semi-colon. Educate women so they know they can choose a better life if they want it. Win the hearts and minds of even the people you oppress, unless you're too busy spending all your education dollars to send idiots overseas to save people with bullets.

You can always win the religious vote.

Mr Schweizer, your American Passport and flight coupons are ready

3 governments deny owning bridge after injured diver sues:

Ryan Schweizer, a rugby player from British Columbia, seriously injured himself in 2000 while diving off one of the stone piers left in the St. John River in Fredericton after the old Carleton Street bridge was dismantled.

Schweizer, then 24, hit a submerged section of the pier and was left with paralyzed legs.

Four years ago, he launched a suit against the city, the province and the federal government, saying there should have been signs warning against diving from the pier.

I'm embarrassed. I'm astounded. I am surprised this isn't a home-grown Amer'cun. I'm then surprised it's not a Torontonian, about the most Amer'cun of any non-Amer'cuns. But no, this is apparently an adult human, fully responsible for his own actions, who jumped off an unknown structure into unknown water, after probably being told by parents and public service announcements for a decade not to do exactly that.

At what point did some hick-town government push him off said bridge? When were they forcing him to be stupid? When did they reassure him that the bridge he'd trespassed to jump from was totally safe? What kind of idiot assumes or asserts that the lack of 12 million neon warning signs means something is safe?

Darwin rewards the smart. Society rewards the stupid. I feel for this poor idiot, but I dearly hope this blatant cash-grab ends soonest.

When you stop writing, I stop reading

A review for Gears of War was the latest to fall under the common 'equal work' rule of Internet 'writing.' As soon as the author stops writing the article, I have to stop reading; any other action takes time away from articles which are written completely, and I don't have time to waste on both types.

By 'writing', I include at least a few minutes proofing the article before sending it off; then a good look over it after it's finally rendered within the final page, just to ensure everything is as it should be. When actual errors are found, they should be fixed; correcting 'their' to 'there' is not the same as reversing a stance on abortion.

This author forgot how to write English, part of the way through the article. That's where I stopped reading. Before that, though, it was a great article. However, I only read a few languages, and Slack-Jawed Yokel is a dialect of English I refuse to learn. Again, it's all about reserving my brain cells for learning something, more than just coddling the unlearned masses.

Apache packages: creating a support vacuum | The Register

In Apache packages: creating a support vacuum | The Register, Mr Nick Kew bleats about differences in file locations used by packagers:

Among the diverse issues we have to deal with are the many users who have installed Apache from a third party package. Many of these packages are rearranged so as to be essentially unrecognisable

This, imho, is entirely pedantic. Why, the build of the software itself likely allows for every single given location encountered in 'the wild', and actually serves to limit the support nightmare by sticking to one of a handful of build location combinations rather than the hundreds possible. But, despite how packaging tends to simplify things by putting the same binaries in the same locations, there's got to be someone for whom the location is still not good enough.

The apache group should also not be taking on this kind of support work -- not only if they still hang out on IRC and webfora like a bunch of preteens. The support for the software should always come from the distributor, and sent on to the software OEM on behalf of the user. The distro should always be in the loop so that the intricacies of the distribution can be more easily translated.

Since he's taken on the role of supporting users he should not be, I cannot spare more time validating his bleating. Support people or do not support people; stop doing this halfway and then complaining about it.

Users who do not know where to find httpd.conf and who grab one of these completely unsupported distributions kicked over the fence by the also-ran organizations should not be surprised when they run into problems. They've chosen to have no support structure; they've asked for it, bought and paid for it. So they should also not be putting the apache group into such positions.

This is why some distros charge money, and I'm surprised there are people who are so stupid they don't get it. Maybe it needs to appear on some stupid webforum somewhere.

Idiots don't practice safe sex; inflict cruelty on child

KOMO-TV - Seattle, Washington - News - "She had like a 36-hour pregnancy":

RENTON- It may seem like the fastest pregnancy in history for one Renton woman.

One day, she learns she's pregnant, the next day she gives birth to a baby boy?

'It's so hard to comprehend,' says Amanda Brisendine, the proud -- and shocked -- new mother.

Everybody would agree with that.

'I had no clue at all.'

Not even an inkling.

What kind of baby isn't active? What kind of society denies the citizens adequate access to medical care so that she could have seen a doctor for 'fatigue'?

What kind of irresponsible twit/country doesn't teach a young girl or boy to insist on a condom? What kind of backward shamanistic third-world country is she living in where sexual education is verboten? Oh, it's America.

Starting to make sense now. Well, looks like three lives are ruined, statistically speaking.