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The meaning of ‘terror’ in colloquial Malay

If you are living in Malaysia and has a lot of Malay friends, there’s chances that you may encountered these kind of conversation/dialog

A : kau ni memang terror la.
B : Eh aku mana terror bab-bab ni, kau tanya Lim tu

C: mamat tu buat wheelie time korner maut, terror betul !

D: Kena terror jugak nak jawab soalan-soalan ni

In a webster terror means :
terror
n 1: an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety [syn: panic]
2: a person who inspires fear or dread; “he was the terror of
the neighborhood” [syn: scourge, threat]
3: a very troublesome child [syn: brat, little terror, holy
terror]

I guess some of you may already know what this ‘terror’ means in the context of conversation. Usually in colloqual Malay, terror means clever,skillful or an expert. I’ve heard this kind of use since before I enter primary school.

The thing is, I can’t help but wonder how this word has come to use widely in malaysian community to describe somebody who are clever, skillful or with expertise. Could it be misinterpretation from an older generation?

What would you call somebody who is an expert in (let’s say) farming ? a terrorist farmer?

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Readable Ubuntu (Breezy Badger) root password

ubuntu

Ubuntu Breezy users, a new security problem has surfaced where root password is readable to the world by merely executing this command :

mypapit@enterprise:~$ grep -r rootpassword /var

Users are advised to update their Breezy installations (via automatic updates) as soon as possible to counter the bug. The problem has been fixed in Ubuntu 6.04 (Drapper Drake).

Link to bug #34606

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Mypapit GNU/Linux blog may be unavailable on March 14

I’ve one announcement to make, Mypapit GNU/Linux blog *MAY* be unavailable starting March 14 (0100 GMT+8), this is because my hosting company is performing some server upgrades and maintenance. My website will be available back on March 15.

Well, Just telling you in advance in case if you are wondering why you can’t reach my website.

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Python for Nokia 1.3.1 (pys60) has no ProgressBar wrapper :(

Last night, I discovered that the current Python for Nokia implementation (pys60 1.3.1) has no ProgressBar wrapper. While this may not be crucial for every application, It is recommeded to display a ProgressBar when you want to improve application perceived speed, especially when performing time-consuming tasks.

I guess without ProgressBar, maybe I’ve to resort to the old style “Please Wait” text on the phone screen everytime the phone execute a long task (such as connecting/authenticating to a remote server).

Anybody can create a ProgressBar python module? (ProgressBar.pyd)

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win-get : Install applications in Windows with apt-get look-alike

Ever got used to package manager such as apt-get, yum, pkg_add or something like it? Wonder if Microsoft Windows has something similiar? Then wonder no more, introducing win-get, an apt-get package manager look-alike for Microsoft Windows.

Download the application from http://windows-get.sourceforge.net/, and put wget.exe and win-get in c:\windows, or anywhere you prefer.

Using win-get is simple, you can query win-get database with a simple “search” directice. Let’s say you want to query about which browser available from win-get repository.

H:\>win-get search browser
Using Repository: http://windows-get.sourceforge.net/winget.php


Name                         Version
----                         -------
avant                            10.1 Build 32
firefox                           1.5.0.1
flash_player                 8,0,22,0
links                               0.98
mysql_querybrowser 1.1.17
netscape                        8.0
opera                             8.51
spybot                           1.4
zinf                                 2.2.1

and if you want to install Mozilla Firefox, you just need to execute :

H:\>win-get install firefox
Checking for mirrors...
No alternative mirrors found...

11% [===>                    ] 577,440   29.77K/s

Which after that will execute the installer and display the installation process in your computer screen.

You can also acquire information about a particular software package by using the “info” directive, like this

H:\>win-get info ad-aware

Application Name: ad-aware
Version: SE
Developer: Lavasoft
Location: http://tucows.tierra.net/files2/aawsepersonal.exe
Type: freeware
Supports Silent: Yes

Description:
This is a spyware removal utility that scans your memory, 
registry and hard drives for known spyware components 
and lets you remove them.

You can browse for more applications currently in win-get repository at http://windows-get.sourceforge.net/listapps.php

Well, I guess that is all about it. Go and try it out guys

p/s: I haven’t been successful running “win-get uninstall” command, can anybody tells me if it works in their computer? Thanks.

btw, thanks to linuxlah for the CSS terminal hack.