Ross Burtonhttp://www.burtonini.com/blogA potted account of Ross' lifeen60Ross BurtonPoky Linux 3.0 "Blinky" Releasedcomputers/poky-2007-08-01-11-30http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/poky-2007-08-01-11-30After much blood, sweat and tears, Poky Linux 3.0 (also known as Blinky ) is released. Poky is an OpenEmbedded ... After much blood, sweat and tears, Poky Linux 3.0 (also known as Blinky) is released. Poky is an OpenEmbedded derivative, focused on building GNOME Mobile-based images for embedded and handheld devices such as the Sharp Zaurus or the Nokia N800.

Aside from the usual set of software updates and infrastructure improvements, Blinky contains the first public release of Sato, an example GTK+/Matchbox based PDA environment aimed at devices with high resolution, physically small screens. This includes a new Matchbox panel and desktop, the Pimlico suite of PIM applications, and a fast, clear GTK+ theme.

Pretty much everyone at OpenedHand has been involved in Poky to some extent, so it's great to see a release. Personally I'm really pleased with how far Blinky has advanced over the last release, Clyde, and will shortly be working on a branch of Blinky to integrate the complete GNOME 2.20 release set.

If anyone is interested in Poky then it is easy to try: there are for a several devices: the Nokia N800 and several Sharp Zaurus models; and Qemu images for both ARM and Intel. Give it a go and tell us what you think!

NP: Love and Affection, Joan Armatrading

]]>/computers2007-08-01T10:30:00ZDaily Mail vs British Medical Journallife/mail-2007-08-01-10-40http://www.burtonini.com/blog/life/mail-2007-08-01-10-40From an article in the Daily Mail this week: Previous studies have found that cannabis claims 30,000 lives a year ... From an article in the Daily Mail this week:

Previous studies have found that cannabis claims 30,000 lives a year by causing cancer, heart disease and bronchitis, and that it can double the risk of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

Now, I wonder where that data is from. Oh look, the British Medical Journal:

It may be argued that the extrapolation from small numbers of individual studies to potential large scale effects amounts to scaremongering. For example, one could calculate that if cigarettes cause an annual excess of 120 000 deaths among 13 million smokers, the corresponding figure for deaths among 3.2 million cannabis smokers would be 30 000, assuming equality of effect.

Genius. Thanks to Dr Ben Goldache for spotting this.

NP: The Good, The Bad & The Queen, The Good, The Bad & The Queen

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