Pecker Tracks

Berlin, February 14, 2012 – The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 3.5, the third major release of “the best free office suite ever”, which shows to end users the improvements derived from the development strategy adopted since September 2010. LibreOffice 3.5 derives from the combined effort of full time hackers – the largest group of experienced OOo code developers – and volunteer hackers, coordinated by the Engineering Steering Committee.

During 16 months, an average of 80 developers each month have provided a total of over thirty thousand code commits, introducing new and interesting features:

Writer

- a new built-in Grammar checker for English and several other languages
- improved typographical features, for professional looking documents
- an interactive word count window, which updates in real time
- a new header, footer and page break user interface

Impress / Draw

- an improved importer of custom shapes and Smart Art from PPT/PPTX
- a feature for embedding multimedia/colour palettes into ODF documents
- a new display switch for the presenter’s console
- new line ends for improved diagrams
- Microsoft Visio import filter

Calc

- support for up to 10,000 sheets
- a new multi-line input area
- new Calc functions conforming to the ODF OpenFormula specifications
- better performances when importing files from other office suites
- multiple selections in autofilter
- unlimited number of rules for conditional formatting

Base

- a new integrated PostgreSQL native driver

In addition, for the first time in the history of LibreOffice, we will be enabling the online update checker, which informs users when a new version of the suite is available.
“We inherited a 15 years old code base, where features were not implemented and bugs were not solved in order to avoid creating problems, and this – with time – was the origin of a large technical debt,” says Caolán McNamara, a senior RedHat developer who is one of the founders and directors of TDF. “We had two options: a conservative strategy, which would immediately please all users, leaving the code basically unchanged, and our more aggressive feature development and code renovation path, which has created some stability problems in the short term but is rapidly leading to a completely new and substantially improved free office suite: LibreOffice 3.5, the best free office suite ever.”

“In sixteen months, we have achieved incredible results – comments Michael Meeks, a SUSE Distinguished Engineer, who is also a founder and director at TDF – with nearly three hundred entirely new developers to the project, attracted by the copyleft license, the lack of copyright assignment and a welcoming environment. In addition to the visible features, they’ve translated tens of thousands of German comments, removed thousands of unused or obsolete methods – sometimes whole libraries – and grown a suite of automated tests. Although we still have a long way to go, users – who have sometimes complained for the stability of the software, as they were not aware of the technical debt we were fighting with – can now benefit from a substantially cleaner, leaner and more feature rich LibreOffice 3.5.”

LibreOffice 3.5 is the first release where the contribution of local communities and associations, such as ALTA in Brazil, has been acknowledged. In addition, TDF tried to recognize those volunteers – where we could easily identify them – who put so much into the 3.5 release, with a “hacking” or “bug hunting” hero badge presented the same day of the announcement. TDF is encouraging the development of a global, open and diverse ecosystem where companies, associations, local communities and volunteers share the common objective of developing the best free office suite ever.

The Document Foundation invites power users to install LibreOffice 3.5, and more conservative users to stick with LibreOffice 3.4 branch. Corporate users are strongly advised to deploy LibreOffice with the backing of professional support, from a company able to assist with migration, end user training, support and maintenance. The Document Foundation will soon provide a list of certified organizations providing these professional services.

LibreOffice 3.5 is available from: http://www.libreoffice.org/download. The new features and the improvements are described in the infographic which can be downloaded from: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/116590/lo35-infofinal.pdf. http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2012/02...ice-suite-ever/

The material was culled from FBI raids and taken by Hoover for his own personal enjoyment. It was especially controversial because at the time pornography was illegal.

In an interview with MailOnline, Porter said: ‘Hoover was especially interested in collecting copies of ‘blue movies’ made by movie stars before they became famous, Joan Crawford being among the most famous instances of this.

‘Hoover was said to have obtained a pirated copy of The Masked Bandit: He Robs P****, a ‘blue movie’ made by a very young Frank Sinatra (the film’s ‘masked bandit’) in 1934.

‘Sinatra shot this movie when he was down and out on the streets of Manhattan. His parents had kicked him out of their house for not pursuing a regular job.’ dailymail.co.uk


Of particular interest were frontal nudes of male celebrities including Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, a teenage Warren Beatty, Elvis Presley, Charlton Heston and James Dean.

The book also details how in the 1930s Hoover used male prostitutes whilst on holiday in Havana at a notorious brothel known as 'Cocktail' whilst disguised in a fake moustache, hat pulled down and dark glasses so nobody would recognise him.

The San Francisco Comedy Festival, better known as SF Sketchfest, had quite the surprise when special guest Barry Bostwick was invited to introduced his classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Host Peaches Christ presided over the evening's events, which were ... interesting. DreadCentral

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CLEVELAND -- Two gay men who say they were punched and pinned to the ground by an off-duty police officer before being called offensive names and jailed without their trousers have sued the city and its police over what they call anti-gay bias.
Steven Ondo and Jonathan Simcox said the off-duty officer, who was a neighbor, complained about a noisy argument on the street and attacked them last April and had them arrested.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/30372837/detail.html#ixzz1lMgVfdB4 WLWT

And nearly a third of those employers want to hire before April. “Temporary jobs from staffing and recruiting firms are playing an increasingly important role in the economic recovery,” according Eric Gilpin, president of CareerBuilder’s Staffing & Recruiting Group.

Based on CareerBuilder’s data, the following are examples of staffing and recruiting positions currently in demand: Occupational or Physical Therapist and Speech Language Pathologist, Java or .Net Developer, Network Engineer, Administrative Assistant, Customer Service Representative and Business Analyst. Forbes

Buffalo New York’s controversial grindhouse series of three short films collectively entitled Black Guy on a Rampage is scheduled for a limited theatrical release. Starting March 3rd, 2012, DefTone Pictures Studios will present showings of all three short films - Black Guy on a Rampage: Angel of Death, Black Guy on a Rampage, and Black Guy on a Rampage: Homicidal Vengeance - in select theatres in the US. In addition, March 3rd, 2012, will also be the street release date of the entire franchise on DVD! DreadCentral

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Two investigators of paranormal hoaxes, the veteran Dr. Margaret Matheson and her young assistant, Tom Buckley, study the most varied metaphysical phenomena with the aim of proving their fraudulent origins. Simon Silver, a legendary blind psychic, reappears after an enigmatic absence of 30 years to become the greatest international challenge to both orthodox science and professional sceptics. Tom starts to develop an intense obsession with Silver, whose magnetism becomes stronger with each new manifestation of inexplicable events. As Tom gets closer to Silver, tension mounts, and his worldview is threatened to its core. Shocktillyoudrop

This seems like a strange movie for Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro and Cillian Murphy to all be in.

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Nearly one in five Norwegians tuned in to watch the Steven Van Zandt-led dramedy about a New York mobster-turned-FBI informant who is put in the witness protection program in Lillehammer, the small Norway town best known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. (Van Zandt’s character, Frank Tagliano, pronounces it “Lilyhammer.”) The series, partially funded by Netflix, was filmed in Norway and features a mostly local cast.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/h...L#ixzz1komD2kre

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Find the clearest ice you can find. Carve out a big chunk of it. Then, shape the ice into a disk, and use the warmth of your hands to melt it into a smooth, round lens. Finally, just like you used to use a magnifying glass to set ants on fire, adjust the angle of the ice disk until rays of sunlight shine through it. Focus the sunbeam onto a spot on the ground where you’ve placed some tinder. And voila – fire!

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SAN DIEGO -U.S. troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called "Spice," which mimics a marijuana high and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.

The abuse of the drug has so alarmed military officials that they've launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users, according to military figures. AOL News

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This photo is from the movie production of Cloud Atlas by the guys who created Matrix. I've been hearing about this story for what seems like 5 years. The first "item" was a story about Adrianna Huffington being in the movie playing a journalist.

The movie is based on a novel and neither the description of the novel nor the description of the movie makes any fucking sense. It's like The Alien Prequel ... how much do people want to hear about a movie that ain't gonna be released any time soon?

The novel consists of six nested stories that take the reader from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next. All stories but the last one get interrupted at some moment, and after the sixth story concludes at the center of the book, the novel "goes back" in time, "closing" each story as the book progresses in terms of pages but regresses in terms of the historical period in which the action takes place. Eventually, readers end where they started, with Adam Ewing in the Pacific Ocean, circa 1850. wikipedia

SANTAQUIN, Utah -A Utah man who won a $380,000 Lamborghini in a convenience store chain's contest says he crashed the sports car six hours after he got it.

KSL-TV reports the lime green Murcielago Roadster will head to a Las Vegas body shop Wednesday for repairs, days after David Dopp won it from Maverik stores' "Joe Schmo to Lambo" contest. AOLNews

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Two years ago, New Times exclusively brought you the story of Bruno Diaz. Back in the '90s Diaz appeared in a few hardcore gay porno flicks, but had then landed a job as the manager of the Miami Beach Police Athletic League gym in Flamingo Park. After board members complained about his past, it seemed that Diaz was fired. Now The Miami Herald finds that Diaz actually never left the payroll and is still working for the Police Athletic League. http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/201...o_diaz_fire.php

EXCLUSIVE: In its first U.S. sale, recently launched L.A.-based indie studio Gaumont International Television has set up hourlong drama Hannibal at NBC. Written and executive produced by Bryan Fuller and executive produced by Martha De Laurentiis, the project, based on the iconic literary and film character Hannibal Lecter, was bought by NBC preemptively. Deadline

"You're not here to play hockey, you're here to fight".

Sean William Scott is in Goon and, he has looked better. Goon look pretty much like "a one joke" movie and there is probably not a whole lot more to the movie than what is in the trailer. See Deadline

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Synopsis:
Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables, Masters of the Universe) stars as Granger, a lethal ex-Special Forces soldier who finds himself transported back to a mystical age of sorcery, dragons, and savage hand-to-hand combat. This modern-day warrior has been summoned to defeat the forces of darkness and fulfill an ancient prophecy. But as he fights his way to the truth, Granger learns no one can be trusted -- and one wrong move could cost him not only his life but the future of his world. QuietEarth

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In the young actor category, a role to die for is John McClane Jr, the son of Bruce Willis’ indestructible cop character in A Good Day To Die Hard ... I’m told the studio, Moore and Willis are down to these four actors for the role: Hunger Games’ Liam Hemsworth; Emmy-winning Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul (scheduling on his series could pose a problem); The Pacific star James Badge Dale; and D.J. Cotrona, who was a regular in the series Detroit 1-8-7 and is currently shooting G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation. Deadline

Back in August, we told you that Ridley Scott was on board to direct a follow-up to his sci-fi masterpiece, Blade Runner. But what we didn't know yet then was whether the new movie would be a sequel or a prequel. Well, it seems that Scott has decided to go down the sequel route. blastr

LOS ANGELES — The XXX Truth or Dare Board game will make its debut Nov. 15 with the Men Only and Just for Girls versions to be unveiled at XBIZ Retail 2012 and available for retail in January. XBiz

An ambitious new TV broadcast service targeting African Americans in the southern United States called the Soul of the South Network plans to spend at least $10 million by early next year to launch in at least 50 markets offering entertainment, sports, news and cultural programming. Hollywood Reporter