This department is a collection of blogs and documents that make up a diverse commentary section. The blogs simply require a web browser. Some documents are plain text files, others are downloadable, others are LaTeX source files, which must be compiled on teTeX or another TeX distribution. PDF files require a reader such as Evince, xpdf, kpdf, and of course Acrobat Reader (of which MEPIS supplies with its flagship product).

Perspectives of the MS-DOJ Antitrust Case of 1998 was the document that started it all for the Coffee, Jazz and Commentary department. It was written shortly after the verdict was rendered (back in 1999), and has been converted to a static PDF, available for download here.

• Cybernightlife Founders Journal

• Perspectives of the MS-DOJ Antitrust Case of 1998 (historical PDF)
• Great Things About Fruitcake (PDF and LaTeX Source)
• The Windbag Turbo Hairdryer (PDF and LaTeX Source)

Don McLean's American Pie has been a classic tune since its original release back in 1971. A number of parodies have been made from this classic over the years, including one by "Weird Al" Yankovic based on the movie Star Wars.

The parodies I have found relate to the computer science culture of the time period in which these were written (1970s and 1980s).

• American Pie -- Hacker Style by David Martin, then of MIT

The term hacker refers to the dictionary definition, i.e. someone who explores the internals of a particular system for the purpose of educating and possible improving of the system, and not the definition the mainstream press shoves in the public face.

Other popular songs over the years have been targets of parodies. The following is a list of parody songs I have found whose lyrics relate to the computer science culture.

• EMACS Wizard (parody of Pinball Wizard about a famous text editor) (LaTeX source available).
• Hotel Massachusetts (a parody of the Eagles classic Hotel California about MIT in the 1980s originally published in that school's newsletter back in 1981).