"Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth."

I like free and open source software (yeah, there's a difference).  I like it as a developer.  I appreciate it as a user.  I love the price.  There are a number of reasons to appreciate the flexibility and power of the F/OSS model.

Project names, unfortunately, are not one of them.

There's a new peer-to-peer search engine project, called... YaCy.

Ya see what they did there? 

Sheesh.

(The title of this post, of course, is maxim 16).

"Please Hold, Your Call Is Important To Us. Not."

Penn State has apparently set up a new hotline for reporting abuse, the "Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Hotline".  Good for them!  I mean, they only have over 90,000 students at 24 sites across the state - I'm sure that they have never had to deal with allegations of sexual assault and violence before, right?  Especially not any connected with their sports program!

*crickets*

If PSU was honest, the number would be 1-800-TELL-JOE, and result in a "This number is no longer in service" message.  Or maybe just infinite hold music.

Oh, no, wait - it's ESPN that has the infinite hold music.  My mistake.

So... Drop Me A Line

Apparently, President Obama made the coveted GQ "Least Influential People Alive" list this year.  So nice to see him finally get the recognition that he deserves after having to accept those "Man of the Year" and "Leader of the Year" consolation prizes from GQ in 2008 and 2009.

While Mr. Obama comes in at #25, I was unable to determine if that meant that GQ considered him to be the most influential, or the least influential, on the list.  In any case, it's a pretty stunning accomplishment.  Nobel to Nobody in three short years.

Well, stunning for those of us who didn't already see his complete lack of potential back in 2007.  Very hipster of me, I know, but... I knew that Obama was an incompetent political hack before knowing he was an incompetent political hack was cool.

Heck, according to GQ, even I have more influence than the President, the Speaker of the House, and major CNBC media personalities.  Combined.  If y'all have anything you'd like, you know, influenced, apparently I'm your man.  I'll look at publishing a rate sheet later this week.

Nothing To See Here...

Net oil imports in the US are at the lowest they've been in the last 16 years.

Shale oil production in North Dakota is booming - a six-fold increase in the last six years.

Completely unrelated, I'm sure.

For the Record...

Daniel Hannan across the pond at the Telegraph writes sets the record straight, and tells the Occupy protesters ten things we evil capitalists really think:

Chatting to some Occupy protesters this morning, I was struck by how wide of the mark were the beliefs they attributed to me as a Right-winger. In the interests of deeper understanding, here are ten things which – trust me – most of the Tory scum I hang around with think. Obviously, I don’t expect to turn my Leftie readers in a single post; still, they might get a clearer idea of what we actually believe.

Synchronicity

Former Soviet state unveils a statue commemorating a US president, while supposed US allies burn a US president in effigy.

A most excellent example of Quinn's First Law: Liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent.

Like White Shoes Before Memorial Day

The turkey has been carved, the potatoes mashed, the stuffing presented and all the various other accoutrements of a traditional Thanksgiving meal have been sliced, diced, and otherwise consumed.

When you awake from your tryptophan and carb induced stupor, feel free to stumble grogilly towards your CD player, iPod, or whatever, and crank up the Christmas tunes.

Everyone who's been listening to Christmas music already?  Tacky.

As for you, 3WS?  Yeah.  We'll be having words about your programming. Just as soon as I check with the Mandarin to see if he's still tinkering with that new orbital high-energy particle beam installation of his.

Illegal WHAT Now?

The Big Bear gets a rant on regarding things suspended.

Illegal things suspended.

Maybe it's just me, but the obvious solution would seem to be something like this.  Slap one up on the window behind your rear view mirror, and presto! - no more illegal danglies.

Er, suspendies.

Things.

On Pants

It took Kerchak almost two years to put his on.

This story arc is simply amazing.

Ah-yep.

Moe Lane notes:

You know, I’ve noticed that I’ve had to hope that “blindingly stupid incompetence” was the true reason for a lot of what the Obama White House has done recently…

I'm with ya, Moe...