ubuntu.stackexchange.com now public!

To be more specific...: http://ubuntu.stackexchange.com is now in public beta. Don't worry about the "beta" thingy -- it's public, which means everybody can read and write there. Great place to ask all of your ubuntu questions -- give it a try!

Ubuntu's worth a new stack exchange site!

...and one has been duly proposed, see it here.

If you use any of the other stack exchange sites (stackoverflow for programming, superuser for general computing questions, serverfault for system administration, etc), and use ubuntu, you'll appreciate the "cross-section" of arguments, where ubuntu-specific questions can be asked without agonizing on whether one is really programming, system administration, or "general";-).

If you don't already use stack exchange sites, why not?!-) Get with the program...!-)

Anyway, you can sign up for the ubuntu site whether you're a seasoned stack exchange user, or a raw newbie -- and, if you are interested in ubuntu, it's well worth doing do, IMHO.

Budget Hero

Cool game - limited, of course, but infstructive!

In a PIGS' I

"The PIGS" is a funny term that's been used for at least a decade to refer to the Mediterranean countries in the EU -- Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain -- often with a less-than-positive "spin". Late last year I spotted a change in popular usage -- the "I" often switched to stand for Ireland instead of Italy (thus losing the peculiar Mediterranean connotation and going directly for the meaning of "Euro-economies in trouble") -- occasionally you now see PIIGS (so that both I-countries can be there, but losing the funny-acronym play of course), but when having to choose (to keep the single-I'd PIGS) I see why one might pick Ireland over Italy (it's not as if Italy's doing well, mind you, but with nominal GDP 2009 vs 2008 Y/Y per IMF data at -9.7%, vs -10.2% for Portugal and Spain and -15.3% for Ireland, you can kinda see the logic here -- BTW, Greece's theoretical -4.2% looks pretty dubious... as the NYT recently wrote, "there are lies, damned lies and Greek statistics";-). I can only find old data on pork consumption per capita by country, but it looks like, at least 10 years ago, Spain was the highest in the group (64 kg -- way higher than EU average), then Ireland (40.5), Italy (36.3), Portugal (31.1), Greece (22.5)... so maybe this criterion isn't exactly the most useful for the PIGS-classification debate...;-)