Mind Those Traffic Lights! What Traffic Lights?

I can’t figure out what this guy was thinking. Was he on the phone? Was he texting? Going too fast? All of these? Who knows. What I do know is that if this guy was travelling fast enough to knock down a traffic light, drag it 20 metres, and wreck his engine, then someone standing at the crossing (which is exactly where the van has come to rest), wouldn’t stand a chance….

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Frozen

For once, I’m not talking about the weather. I’m talking about the movie with Kirsten Bell and Idina Menzel. The movie had a lot of hype in America and you know something’s big when you get this released by the studio themselves. It’s the song “Let It Go”, sung by Elsa (Idina Menzel), with lines swapped out for other languages — everything from English, German, Swedish, to the lesser known languages — Catalan, Castillo and even the Eastern languages got a look in — Korean, Japanese, Cantonese Chinese and Mandarin Chinese.

I watched the film yesterday and, although it was sterotypical Disney — good guy, bad guy, love triumphs over everything, etc, etc. There were a few things in there that were not typical Disney. Prejudice over Elsa’s powers, exploitation of Anna’s love for Hanz, my jaw dropped when I saw the sequence for Let It Go, and how Elsa formed the Ice Palace.

The songs were really catchy — unlike some musical films, where the songs are sung too quick, I could hear what the actors and actresses were saying, and I have to say, I suffered last night with Frozen earworms, and “Let It Go” ringing in my head all night.

What I do like about watching professional CG-made films like this, is that they do give you inspirations for your own work.

‘Like driving a Ferrari at 20mph’: Why one region ditched Microsoft Office for LibreOffice

Linux News

If you’re up for a visit to the beautiful Italian region of Umbria, better make sure your laptop is running some open source software — chances are you’ll feel more at home there.

This small area in the middle of the Boot, known for its centuries-old monasteries and for being the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, is in fact quickly becoming a mecca of free software.

Thanks to a project called LibreUmbria, the biggest local government bodies are migrating to LibreOffice in what’s thought to be the most carefully-designed transition away from proprietary software ever undertaken. Though not as big as other international migration initiatives, the Umbrian project has been praised for its attention it pays to every aspect of the transition, not just the technical ones.

And if money is the primary motive, cultural and ethical reasons also play a prominent role. “Right now, along with Munich

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