Today texvc was re-accepted for inclusion into Debian. texvc is a TeX validator and converter than can be used with the Math extension to generate PNGs of math equations. It had been removed from Jessie when MediaWiki itself was removed. However, a texvc package is still useful for those who aren't using the MediaWiki Debian package, since it requires OCaml to build from source, which can be pretty difficult.
Pending no other issues, texvc will be included in Debian Stretch. I am also working on having it included in jessie-backports for users still on Jessie.
And as always, thanks to Moritz for reviewing and sponsoring the package!
In MediaWiki 1.28, MaxSem improved diff limits in the pure PHP diff implementation that ships with MediaWiki core. However Wikimedia and other larger wikis use a PHP extension called wikidiff2, for better performance and additional support for Japanese, Chinese, and Thai.
wikidiff2 1.4.1 is now available in Debian unstable and will ship in stretch, and should soon be available in jessie-backports and my PPA for Ubuntu Trusty and Xenial users. This is the first major update of the package in two years. And installation in MediaWiki 1.27+ is now even more straightforward, as long as the module is installed, it will automatically be used, no global configuration required.
Additionally, releases of wikidiff2 will now be hosted and signed on releases.wikimedia.org.
Fans of the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders at De Anza College are loyal to their teams even when they are not doing well, but do prefer to win.
The Raiders lead the AFC West with a 9-2 record, while the 49ers are last in the NFC West with a 1-10 record. This is a stark reversal from 2013, when the 49ers were competing in the Super Bowl and the Raiders finished the season with a 4-12 record, as reported by The Mercury News.
49ers fans are not bothered though.
âMy entire family is 49ers fans, and there is no change in our fandom due to the downturn,â said Joseph Schmidt.
Schmidt recently bought a new 49ers hat that he wears around campus.
Victor Bejarano concurred and said, âI try to watch them every week, even when theyâre losing.â
A fan since 2011, he too wears a 49ers hat around campus to show his support for the team.
Sathya Reach said he has stopped watching the 49ers play not because of their downfall, but because of an increased focus on school.
âI used to watch (the 49ers) with my cousins, not so much anymore,â Reach said.
Regardless of their support, 49ers fans have opinions on how the team is doing, mostly about 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick protests police brutality against minorities before each game by kneeling during the national anthem. His protest placed him on the cover of TIME magazine, and ranked as the most disliked player in the NFL in a September poll conducted by E-Poll Marketing Research.
Bejarano does not follow Kaepernickâs actions off the field, but said that on the field, Kaepernick was not getting the job done.
âHe does what he does, and has his own reasons,â Reach said.
Self-described Raider âfanaticâ Mike Nijmeh agreed, calling Kaepernick a bad quarterback.
James Stewart, a Raidersâ fan since 5 years old, disagreed and said, âI like Kaepernick, and wouldnât mind if he was a Raidersâ backup quarterback.â
Reader Poll: Could Derek Carr be the MVP this year?
Both Nijmeh and Stewart praised the Raiders' quarterback, Derek Carr, and Nijmeh, dressed in his Raiders hat, jacket and jersey, said, âCarr could easily be the MVP this year.â
Stewart said that while he also thought Carr is MVP caliber, Tom Brady, the quarterback of the New England Patriots, is realistically more likely to win.
âMaybe in five years,â said Stewart, explaining that he expected Brady to have retired by then.
He is not the only one, as Raider teammate Khalil Mack considers Carr to be a potential MVP, reported USA Today. USA Today Sportsâ MVP tracker has Carr in third.
Some 49ers fans are indifferent about the Raiders, others support them because of simply being in the Bay Area, and others just do not like them.
Bejarano said that he supports the Raiders because they are a Bay Area team, but that it bothers him that they are doing so well in contrast to the 49ers.
Nijmeh summed up his feelings by saying the Raidersâ success has made him much happier on Sundays.
As I said earlier, I worked the polls from 6 a.m. to roughly 9:20 p.m. We had one voter come in at the nick of time at 7:59 p.m.
I was glad to see that we had a lot of first time voters, as well as some who just filled out one issue on the three(!) page ballot, and then left. Overall, I've come to the conclusion that everyone is just like me and votes just to get a sticker. We had quite a few people who voted by mail and stopped by just to get their "I voted!" sticker.
I should get paid $145 for working, which I shall be donating to https://riseup.net/. And I plan to be helping out during the next election!
