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1. Please Help to Port python-debianbts to Python3

   Dear Lazyweb,

   I'm currently trying to find a way to port python-debianbts to Python3. Debian's standard bugreport tool reportbug depends on python-debianbts and can thus not convert to Python3 if python-debianbts does not as well. Unfortunately python-debianbts depends on SoapPy for parsing the Debian bugtracker's responses, and that library is not ported to Python3 yet, and probably never will.

   I'm planning to replace SoapPy with pysimplesoap which is available for Python2 and Python3. Unfortunately debbugs does not support WSDL which makes parsing of the replies extremely painful and error-prone. I wonder if there is a  SOAP/Python expert out there who'd be willing to give some assistance in porting python-reportbug to pysimplesoap? python-reportbug's repository is on GitHub and patches are very welcome.

   Since SOAP is quite a beast and debbugs uses it for read-only purposes only, another attractive solution would be to replace/augment ...

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2. General Resolution is not required

   The result for the General Resolution about the init system coupling is out and the result is, not quite surprisingly, "General Resolution is not required".

   When skimming over -devel or -private from time to time, one easily gets the impression that we are all a bunch of zealots, all too eager for fighting. People argue in the worst possible ways. People make bold statements about the future of Debian if solution X is preferred over Y. People call each other names. People leave the project.

   At some point you realize, we're not all a bunch of zealots, it is usually only the same small subset of people always involved in those discussions. It's reassuring that we still seem to have a silent majority in Debian that, without much fuss, just do what they can to make Debian better. In this sense: A General Resolution is not required.

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3. What are the most popular .vimrc options?

   Hi always wondered what the most popular options are, you usually find in .vimrc files. So I downloaded 155 .vimrc files from the net (mostly from dotfiles.org and github.com), and wrote a little script which counts the number of times an option has been set. Since most options come in normal- and shortcut form, I mapped the shortcuts to the long version whenever I recognized them.

   So without further ado, here are the most popular .vimrc options (without values!). The number specifies the number of times this option has been set. The most popular option is on the bottom:

   10 tselect
   10 dictionary
   10 runtimepath
   11 mousehide
   11 t_vb
   11 foldlevel
   11 foldopen
   12 suffixes
   12 matchtime
   12 fileencoding
   13 modelines
   13 wrap
   14 sidescrolloff
   14 clipboard
   14 lines
   14 novisualbell
   15 linebreak
   15 cursorline
   15 fileformats
   15 columns
   15 cindent
   16 undolevels
   16 shiftround
   16 lazyredraw
   16 ...

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4. How to get the most precise time, comparable between processes in Python?

   Let's consider the following scenario: I have two Python processes receiving the same events and I have to measure the delay between when process A received the event and when process B received it, as precisely as possible (i.e. less than 1ms).

   Using Python 2.7 and a Unix system you can use the time.time method which provides the time in seconds since Epoch and has a typical resolution of a fraction of a ms on Unix. You can use it on different processes and still compare the results, since both processes receive the time since Epoch, a defined and fixed time in the past.

   On Windows time.time also provides the time since Epoch, but the resolution is in the range of 10ms, which is not suitable for my application.

   There is also time.clock which is super precise on Windows, and much less precise on ...

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5. Wee! Wheezy is out (better late than never)

   Last week we released Wheezy, roughly two years after our last release Squeeze.

   I'd like to thank all the contributors in- and outside of Debian for your fine work! Every single contribution -- no matter how big or small -- summed up to the wonderful release we finished last week. Without you this release would not have been possible. Keep up the good work guys and make Jessie rock even harder!

   PS: It is very nice to see once again fresh packages rolling into unstable and spending some time fixing broken dependencies :)

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6. Synchronizing Google Mail Contacts with Thunderbird

   Dear Lazyweb,

   can anyone recommend a good Thunderbird extension which allows for synchronizing the address book with Google mail? So far I tried Google Contacts, but something went wrong with the syncing and some contacts where deleted on both sides. To avoid this problem, one can use Google Contacts in read-only mode (it will only fetch contacts from Google, but never write to it) but then you have to import new Thunderbird contacts to Google mail manually.

   Google introduced CardDav in December 2012, which allows for syncing of contacts, but since Thunderbird's development is apparently on hold this is probably not gonna be supported out-of-the-box. There are some other extensions for Thunderbird, but since synchronization is hard and a lot more complicated than: "replace newer version with older one" I'm looking for something mature and well tested.

   Before someone suggests it, I know Evolution has this feature built-in ...

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7. Shiny new iPod Nano 6G... fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

   So I got an iPod Nano (6th generation) for Christmas this year, just in time since my trusty old iPod Mini started beg for retirement after almost 8 years of usage.

   Since my old iPod was working like a charm all those years I expected a smooth sailing when I plugged in my new iPod Nano. Gnome recognized it correctly and mounted the device. The iPod showed up in Rhythmbox as I was used to and I started to fill it with some music. Everything worked as expected: Rhythmbox copied the music to the iPod without complaining and after unmounting the iPod and starting it -- it was emtpy. Whait, what? Why is it empty? Didn't I just... So I tried again, and again with the same result.

   Half an hour later I found out that libgpod (the iPod "driver" for Linux) supports all iPods except the iPod Nano 6G ...

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8. Introducing The Art of Asking

   Since October 2011 my flatmate and I where quite busy realizing a little pet project of ours called The Art of Asking. The ultimate goal is to visualize the world's opinion in an intuitive fashion and make it easy for everyone to play around with the data.

   The idea behind The Art of Asking is that users submit interesting questions which are answered by users around the world. But instead of showing only the boring result, we want to provide interesting insights and statistics about the answers given.

   For now the users can see the results of the question visualized by geographical regions. For example on the page for the question 'How are you today?' you can see the interactive map with the pie chart. The map shows the average/dominating answer for each continent encoded by color, and the pie chart the distribution of the different answers for ...

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9. Give Camp Berlin looking for volunteers

   My friend Martijn from Talentspender is co-organizing a Give Camp in Berlin. They are looking for IT professionals and designers who want to spend one weekend of their time to support non-profit organizations to solve a specific problem at the Give Camp. It is for a good cause and there is no further commitment after the Camp. Plus you will be provided with free food and drinks. So if you are interested and happen to be in Berlin between 30. November and 02. December 2012 have a look at their website and register for the GiveCamp.

   Quoting from their flyer:

   A GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals donate their time to provide custom solutions for non-profit organizations. Voluntarily, without further commitment and for a good cause: the long-term strengthening of the organizations.

   How does it work?

   • Teamwork of experts during one weekend, with regular input from the NPOs ...

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