I'm upgrading a friend's laptop to Debian Sid, as I write this. It's so much more fun to upgrade somebody else's machine instead of your own.
I did check the bug reports first, though.
Wednesday 28 December 2005
Friday 16 December 2005
Fischer and Anti-semitism
My pointing out Bobby Fischer's home page, below, does not mean that I condone his views, especially those pertaining to his anti-semitic tirades that are, at best, tiring. Fischer is a tragic figure, more to be pitied than hated. His views may be offensive, but he is basically harmless and should be remembered for his chess rather than his outbursts in later years.
The same cannot be said of Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, who has publicly, and repeatedly, claimed that the Holocaust is a "myth". The only thing tragic in his case is that he was elected in the first place. And, I suppose, that many innocent people could die if he is allowed to continue.
The same cannot be said of Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, who has publicly, and repeatedly, claimed that the Holocaust is a "myth". The only thing tragic in his case is that he was elected in the first place. And, I suppose, that many innocent people could die if he is allowed to continue.
Thursday 15 December 2005
Best US Promotions Are At It Again
The travel lottery scam I wrote about is picking up speed here in Sweden. Another wave of phone calls from the Haifa area in Israel hit us and at least one lady was relieved from about 8,000 SEK in "travel taxes" from her VISA card, according to Swedish morning paper GP.
If you want to call Best US Promotions and tell them how you feel about travel scams, the number is +9724900000.
If you want to call Best US Promotions and tell them how you feel about travel scams, the number is +9724900000.
Tuesday 13 December 2005
Bobby Fischer in 17 Boxes
Chess-related items belonging to former chess world champion Bobby Fischer are up for sale in an eBay auction, with bids starting at $15,000. How the collection ended up on eBay isn't entirely clear but Fischer's version is on his home page. The page is rather large so search for "Ellsworth", about halfway down.
I'd urge anyone interested in chess and with the necessary cash to buy the items and return them to Fischer.
Fischer is now a resident of Iceland, after a year-long detention in Japan.
I'd urge anyone interested in chess and with the necessary cash to buy the items and return them to Fischer.
Fischer is now a resident of Iceland, after a year-long detention in Japan.
My Swedish Blog
I'm Swedish, as those of you who've read my profile may have noted. Therefore, I also write a Swedish blog, where I usually focus on matters of interest in, you guessed it, Sweden, and have thus added a link there.
So how's your Swedish?
So how's your Swedish?
Saturday 10 December 2005
Wednesday 7 December 2005
Fighting Terrorism
What good does it do in the war against terrorism to kidnap innocent people outside your own jurisdiction, against local, international, and US laws? How does it help to transport them across the globe to torture then in secret prisons, in a supposedly "liberated" third country?
I was kind of hoping that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would have at least some answers, but unfortunately, her European PR tour has given preciously few answers so far. See, some of us stupid, backwards Europeans think that people, even suspected terrorists, are innocent until proven guilty. Many of our laws build on that assumption. We think it's important, a cornerstone of what we think is fair and just.
I guess what I'd really like to say is f*** you, Ms Rice (and Mr Bush, now that I think of it), but this is a family-oriented blog, thank you very much, so I won't.
I was kind of hoping that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would have at least some answers, but unfortunately, her European PR tour has given preciously few answers so far. See, some of us stupid, backwards Europeans think that people, even suspected terrorists, are innocent until proven guilty. Many of our laws build on that assumption. We think it's important, a cornerstone of what we think is fair and just.
I guess what I'd really like to say is f*** you, Ms Rice (and Mr Bush, now that I think of it), but this is a family-oriented blog, thank you very much, so I won't.
Monday 5 December 2005
Too Good to Be True?
A nice lady who called herself Ashley rang me today. Ashley, who claimed to work for a Florida company called Best US Promotions (please have a look at our web site at www.bestusvacations.com, sir), informed me that I'd just won a free Bahamas cruise!
She talked fast and the phone line was pretty bad, but basically I was the lucky winner of not only a free Bahamas cruise (3 days), but also a week at Disney World, 2 days in Daytona, and another 2 in Fort Laudardale. With all, or at least most, expenses paid (the exact terms of my dream vacation escape me for the moment; like I said, the phone line was bad and she talked fast). The whole thing really sounded too good to be true.
And it was. After a description of my up-and-coming vacation (with my family, of course), I was switched to another nice lady who wanted my name, address, phone number, and... VISA card number.
I told her that this I didn't like, but she assured me that it was OK. I was protected, they'd tape the conversation (sic), and she fully understood my scepticism. She would react in the same way. Oh good, I said. Would she send me a detailed agreement with all the necessary information through snail mail? No sir, that is not possible. We only have three cruises left and there are others who will surely accept the terms without this kind of complication. And anyway, I'm insured through VISA, don't I know that?
That's funny, I told her. VISA's quite explicit about this kind of thing. You must never reveal your credit card number through a phone line. Never. And so I won't do it, free cruise or not.
She became upset. If you don't know the terms of your international credit card, sir, she said, you shouldn't be allowed to use one. Again, I said thanks but no thanks, so she hung up on me.
After telling my wife that I just said no to a free Bahamas cruise, I checked Ahley & Co's phone number (I have one of those thingies that log incoming phone numbers), and sure enough, the call was from Israel, not Florida:
(00) 9724900000
If you get a call from them, hang up.
The web site, I found out, was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona company that helps domain owners conceal their identities from the public by registering their domains in the name of Domains by Proxy. They've helped quite a few, from fake talent hunters to, well, fake travel lotteries.
A Google search (scam+travel+US+Promotions) also explained how this kind of scam works. It's a shame, though; I could have used a vacation.
She talked fast and the phone line was pretty bad, but basically I was the lucky winner of not only a free Bahamas cruise (3 days), but also a week at Disney World, 2 days in Daytona, and another 2 in Fort Laudardale. With all, or at least most, expenses paid (the exact terms of my dream vacation escape me for the moment; like I said, the phone line was bad and she talked fast). The whole thing really sounded too good to be true.
And it was. After a description of my up-and-coming vacation (with my family, of course), I was switched to another nice lady who wanted my name, address, phone number, and... VISA card number.
I told her that this I didn't like, but she assured me that it was OK. I was protected, they'd tape the conversation (sic), and she fully understood my scepticism. She would react in the same way. Oh good, I said. Would she send me a detailed agreement with all the necessary information through snail mail? No sir, that is not possible. We only have three cruises left and there are others who will surely accept the terms without this kind of complication. And anyway, I'm insured through VISA, don't I know that?
That's funny, I told her. VISA's quite explicit about this kind of thing. You must never reveal your credit card number through a phone line. Never. And so I won't do it, free cruise or not.
She became upset. If you don't know the terms of your international credit card, sir, she said, you shouldn't be allowed to use one. Again, I said thanks but no thanks, so she hung up on me.
After telling my wife that I just said no to a free Bahamas cruise, I checked Ahley & Co's phone number (I have one of those thingies that log incoming phone numbers), and sure enough, the call was from Israel, not Florida:
(00) 9724900000
If you get a call from them, hang up.
The web site, I found out, was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona company that helps domain owners conceal their identities from the public by registering their domains in the name of Domains by Proxy. They've helped quite a few, from fake talent hunters to, well, fake travel lotteries.
A Google search (scam+travel+US+Promotions) also explained how this kind of scam works. It's a shame, though; I could have used a vacation.
Tuesday 29 November 2005
Boycott Everything Sony
Sony, the well-known manufacturer of consumer electronics products, likes to plant rootkits in your (Windows-based) computer without asking for permission first. You see, they assume that you are a crook, they assume that you live for stealing other people's intellectual property whenever given the opportunity. They assume that you need to be controlled, and they think it's their duty to do so.
Groklaw's put up a page gathering all Sony-related information to one place so please, don't take my word for it, read for yourself.
If you really are like that, if you agree with Sony, then by all means, continue buying their products. But if not, boycott everything Sony. Start now!
Groklaw's put up a page gathering all Sony-related information to one place so please, don't take my word for it, read for yourself.
If you really are like that, if you agree with Sony, then by all means, continue buying their products. But if not, boycott everything Sony. Start now!
Monday 28 November 2005
FOP, Part Two
Sometimes it helps to complain, apparently. A day or two after my somewhat annoyed comment on FOP, the FOP team released an alpha from the development branch. Most of the properties I've missed in 0.20.5 are there, and seem to work. Ain't life grand?
Monday 21 November 2005
Debian Sid
Debian Unstable, a k a Sid, has been, well, a little unstable lately. First, grep broke during one of my wildly optimistic dist-upgrades and I had some trouble booting and starting X, then xscreensaver and nvidia couldn't agree so X crashed. Cost me half a day, all in all.
Lesson: When working anywhere near a deadline, do not dist-upgrade. And above all, do not reboot.
Lesson: When working anywhere near a deadline, do not dist-upgrade. And above all, do not reboot.
FOP
Oh please let there be a new (stable) version of FOP while XSL is still a viable technology. I've been busy writing stylesheets for a system running FOP the last few weeks, see, and I'm not too happy with some of the bugs. I'd contribute to the project if I knew enough Java but I don't, so all I can do is to whine.
(For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, please feel free to ignore me.)
(For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, please feel free to ignore me.)
Saturday 19 November 2005
Phishing
I got another one of those fake Ebay "check-your-account" emails the other day. The technique's called phishing and, in short, it's basically an email with a link to a fake website made to look like Ebay, Paypal, or whatever. You're supposed to believe that your Ebay, Paypal (etc) account needs to be renewed so if you'll just be kind enough to follow the link and fill in your bank account details, you'll be up and running again in no time. Phishing is quite common, in my inbox at least, and a real pain.
For years, I've deleted these things without a second thought, but this time, I followed the link, entered a fake name, a fake bank account number, a fake PIN (as if Ebay would need it), a fake address, a fake city... you get the idea. The thing is, I went to some lengths to ensure that the information wasn't obviously made up, hoping that the fraud at the other end wouldn't immediately see what I was doing. And prayed to the net ghods that he would actually use the information to create a credit card, and attempt to use that card in an actual store.
Why not do the same the next time somebody sends you an email asking you to update your Ebay account? Make some trouble. See to it that these people are kept busy. I'm sure that sooner or later, somebody will try to use the information to make that fake credit card, and to try to use it. Just think of the fun you've created. It's not going to stop them all, but it's a start.
For years, I've deleted these things without a second thought, but this time, I followed the link, entered a fake name, a fake bank account number, a fake PIN (as if Ebay would need it), a fake address, a fake city... you get the idea. The thing is, I went to some lengths to ensure that the information wasn't obviously made up, hoping that the fraud at the other end wouldn't immediately see what I was doing. And prayed to the net ghods that he would actually use the information to create a credit card, and attempt to use that card in an actual store.
Why not do the same the next time somebody sends you an email asking you to update your Ebay account? Make some trouble. See to it that these people are kept busy. I'm sure that sooner or later, somebody will try to use the information to make that fake credit card, and to try to use it. Just think of the fun you've created. It's not going to stop them all, but it's a start.
Thursday 10 November 2005
Backwards Bush
My friend Deck (read his blog, it's good) got a gift from his wife Alma (another good friend), a clock that counts the hours left of George W Bush's presidency. I'm definitely going to order one; have a look at http://www.backwardsbush.com/. However, if the FAQ is right, the battery must be replaced at least once before it's time. The battery life is only two years.
I'm sure that's more than enough for at least one more war.
I'm sure that's more than enough for at least one more war.
Star Wars III
Just dusted my living room loudspeakers with my brand-new Star Wars III DVD, and I've got to tell you, the sound is excellent. A lot better than in that pathetic excuse of a cinema, the Palladium in Göteborg, where I last saw the film. Why is it that an eight year-old Dolby processor for home use can run circles around a state-of-the-art Dolby Digital thingie?
I'm going to fully enjoy watching the whole film tomorrow. Don't even think about calling me.
I'm going to fully enjoy watching the whole film tomorrow. Don't even think about calling me.
Using the GIMP
The Gimp is a free graphics software package, available for Linux among others. I did an upgrade recently but the configuration is a little scary. Just take a look at what it wants to do. User installation...?
Thursday 27 October 2005
The US Patent Law...
...is by far the stupidest piece of legislation that I've ever come across. Or maybe not, but in that case, the authorities handling the practicalities of the law are obviously incompetent.
How else would you explain this? (In case you wonder but are too lazy to follow the link, some bright young mind now wants to patent XML. The question of prior art has obviously not come up yet, or we wouldn't have to bother. Or has it? Can they really be this stupid?)
If they do manage to patent XML, I guess I won't have to bother trying to find a decent XML editor for Linux. Now that's something.
How else would you explain this? (In case you wonder but are too lazy to follow the link, some bright young mind now wants to patent XML. The question of prior art has obviously not come up yet, or we wouldn't have to bother. Or has it? Can they really be this stupid?)
If they do manage to patent XML, I guess I won't have to bother trying to find a decent XML editor for Linux. Now that's something.
Monday 17 October 2005
XMetaL (The Revenge of the Bride of the Mutant Ninja XML Editor, Part Two)
Speaking of XML editors, my favorite, hands down, is XMetaL. It's user-friendly, fast, and easy enough to customize. I've written tens of thousands of pages with it, and if I had a choice, I'd continue using it without a second thought.
Unfortunately, XMetaL is only available for Windows. There's no Linux version, no *nix whatsoever. This is probably not going to change, either, because BlastRadius insists on coupling XMetaL Developer (the version you need if you want to customize the product) with Microsoft Visual Studio. This is probably the single most limiting business decision they've imposed on the product: none of the developers I know likes the Microsoft IDE. In fact, most avoid it as the plague. Believe it or not, there are far better IDEs available.
Also, XMetaL doesn't work in Wine, the fake Windows environment found in Linux. I've tried, but I can't make it work. Most of the lesser XML tools work, but not XMetaL.
It's about time someone developed a decent XML editor for Linux.
Unfortunately, XMetaL is only available for Windows. There's no Linux version, no *nix whatsoever. This is probably not going to change, either, because BlastRadius insists on coupling XMetaL Developer (the version you need if you want to customize the product) with Microsoft Visual Studio. This is probably the single most limiting business decision they've imposed on the product: none of the developers I know likes the Microsoft IDE. In fact, most avoid it as the plague. Believe it or not, there are far better IDEs available.
Also, XMetaL doesn't work in Wine, the fake Windows environment found in Linux. I've tried, but I can't make it work. Most of the lesser XML tools work, but not XMetaL.
It's about time someone developed a decent XML editor for Linux.
XML Editing for Linux
A friend and I tried a couple of XML editing packages for Debian Linux the other day. They ranged from the totally unusable to unusable and buggy.
Why is this?
I can live with the "buggy" part; I run Debian unstable and get my share of bugs and early alphas so it's OK. I can wait. (Even though I do think that early alphas should at least survive through a File->New...)
But I don't get the "unusable" part. All of the editors we tried were useless for actual editing and the user interfaces ranged from the messy and the ugly to the utterly pointless. In many cases it was even difficult to enter text; you had to bring up a dialog to do this...
So what are these editors for? Is there a use for XML that we've missed? Is it too much to ask for a text editor that you can actually use for editing text?
Unfortunately, then, there's still no decent XML editor available for Linux, apart from nxml-mode for emacs that really isn't an XML editor more than it is a kitchen sink.
Why is this?
I can live with the "buggy" part; I run Debian unstable and get my share of bugs and early alphas so it's OK. I can wait. (Even though I do think that early alphas should at least survive through a File->New...)
But I don't get the "unusable" part. All of the editors we tried were useless for actual editing and the user interfaces ranged from the messy and the ugly to the utterly pointless. In many cases it was even difficult to enter text; you had to bring up a dialog to do this...
So what are these editors for? Is there a use for XML that we've missed? Is it too much to ask for a text editor that you can actually use for editing text?
Unfortunately, then, there's still no decent XML editor available for Linux, apart from nxml-mode for emacs that really isn't an XML editor more than it is a kitchen sink.
Monday 10 October 2005
2001
2001, the pitiful 35mm print Warner insists on distributing instead of a proper 70mm print, was depressing. Yes, the film is still good, yes, the transfer from 65mm negatives was sometimes decent, yes, moviegoers of today deserve to see this timeless classic, and yes, it's a fact that there really aren't that many 70mm installations left. Even though I have one in my garage.
But.
It's not what Kubrick wanted, is it? If Warner Brothers had actually respected his life's work, his legacy, they would have presented the audience with that 70mm print whenever and wherever possible. But they don't respect Kubrick, they never did, and they don't care about his old films. The guy's dead, after all, so he isn't complaining. Warner Brothers care about money, and there's money to be made even from old films if you're careful not to spend too much.
This is why cinemas are dying all over the world.
But.
It's not what Kubrick wanted, is it? If Warner Brothers had actually respected his life's work, his legacy, they would have presented the audience with that 70mm print whenever and wherever possible. But they don't respect Kubrick, they never did, and they don't care about his old films. The guy's dead, after all, so he isn't complaining. Warner Brothers care about money, and there's money to be made even from old films if you're careful not to spend too much.
This is why cinemas are dying all over the world.
Wednesday 28 September 2005
Object Orientation...
...is a silly, silly pair of words that gets even sillier when authors use it as an adjective without the hyphen (object oriented instead of object-oriented).
How can you trust these authors to show you how to write code, when they mistreat their first language like that?
Drag me, drop me, treat me like an object (as a friend used to say).
How can you trust these authors to show you how to write code, when they mistreat their first language like that?
Drag me, drop me, treat me like an object (as a friend used to say).
Wednesday 21 September 2005
Kubrick and 70mm
I showed another Kubrick film yesterday, Spartacus. Unsurprisingly, the print was a new-ish 35mm print with optical SR stereo. In other words, the 70mm print of this classic film was left to rot in the Swedish Film Institute's freezer.
Now, admittedly, the 70mm print doesn't have much colour left (and yes, the 35mm print yesterday does; colour-wise, it was very nice), but for crying out loud, Spartacus was shot in 70mm (well, 65, if you want to be picky) and the restored version has been shown to the rest of the world in that format. With new prints.
Why not Sweden?
Now, admittedly, the 70mm print doesn't have much colour left (and yes, the 35mm print yesterday does; colour-wise, it was very nice), but for crying out loud, Spartacus was shot in 70mm (well, 65, if you want to be picky) and the restored version has been shown to the rest of the world in that format. With new prints.
Why not Sweden?
Monday 19 September 2005
Friday 16 September 2005
Linux Ready for the Desktop?
I found a rather long article by Kim Bauters, a 20-year old computer science student, about Linux on the desktop. Her conclusion is that Linux isn't ready yet (and, between the lines, that it'll never be ready). I won't bother you with details, but one paragraph near the end stood out:
Lastly, I would once again encourage those who evangelise Linux to start using self-criticism. To tell you the truth, Linux has not made any advancements when you compare it to Windows. Windows has gone forward with leaps and bounds towards becoming a secure and productive system. Linux hasn't made such advancements. Linux has only made some small steps, and there can only be hope that one day, Linux will actually start to make some leaps. Windows is a lot better than Linux because in the past, Windows has learned from their mistakes. Linux hasn't. And OS X, well, they play in their own league.
"Windows has learned from their mistakes"? Really? Let me tell you a story, Kim. I have Debian GNU/Lnux (which I'm using as I write) and Windows XP installed on my PC. My Debian installation is of the "unstable" flavour which basically means that everything in it is bleeding edge. The very latest software Debian has to offer, and thus not always very stable. I use it for lots of things, from work to play, from programming to writing, yet the OS itself has yet to crash on me. No kernel panic, no blue screens of death.
The Windows installation, on the other hand, is an XP Pro with all the service packs, patches and such that Microsoft has made available. It should be "stable", in other words. Now, I tend to use XP less than Debian but when I do, it's for about the same stuff. Work and play. Programming, writing, and, of course, gaming, which is the one area where XP is better. Or rather, the availability of games is better.
Anyway, some months ago I thought it would be a cool thing to run BOINC, the Berkeley client software that uses your computer in screensaver mode to find aliens, the cure for cancer, and a number of other tasks suited for distributed computing. Not long after, inexplicably, XP started to try to shutdown itself, and whatever software that happened to be running, when emerging from screensaver or standby mode. It turned out that my particular version of BOINC was causing this so the cure was easy enough: once an update to BOINC was available, I installed it and voilà, the problem vanished.
But BOINC never was the real problem. Windows was. What kind of OS allows an application, a screensaver at that, to access such core functions as system shutdown or killing other processes? I've had my share of unstable applications in Debian crash on me, simply because they are of early alpha quality, untested or simply not very well designed. But none of them ever managed to bring the OS down with them. And none of them ever tried.
Why? Because a well-designed OS separates user space from kernel space, sees to it that the running privileges of any given piece of software never interleaf with the privileges of another, independent piece of software that happens to be running on the same OS at the same time. Yet, in the Windows world, the mix-up of user and kernel spaces is a time-honored tradition, there from their very first attempts at a multi-tasking OS. They've learned to hide the mix-up, yes, but the basic design flaw is still there and often readily apparent.
Considering her age, Kim Bauters probably wasn't using that many computers when the first versions of Microsoft Windows appeared (or, for that matter, the first versions of MS-DOS), but I can assure her that the kind of thinking that allowed BOINC to try to shutdown XP was there, just as it is now. In this respect, Microsoft has learned very little. Linux, on the other hand, has never had this problem (and thus no reason to "learn" from its past) since its solution is not that hard and is present in just about every *nix version ever designed.
But Kim Bauters is entitled to her opinion, even though I wonder what they teach to computer science students about OS design these days.
Lastly, I would once again encourage those who evangelise Linux to start using self-criticism. To tell you the truth, Linux has not made any advancements when you compare it to Windows. Windows has gone forward with leaps and bounds towards becoming a secure and productive system. Linux hasn't made such advancements. Linux has only made some small steps, and there can only be hope that one day, Linux will actually start to make some leaps. Windows is a lot better than Linux because in the past, Windows has learned from their mistakes. Linux hasn't. And OS X, well, they play in their own league.
"Windows has learned from their mistakes"? Really? Let me tell you a story, Kim. I have Debian GNU/Lnux (which I'm using as I write) and Windows XP installed on my PC. My Debian installation is of the "unstable" flavour which basically means that everything in it is bleeding edge. The very latest software Debian has to offer, and thus not always very stable. I use it for lots of things, from work to play, from programming to writing, yet the OS itself has yet to crash on me. No kernel panic, no blue screens of death.
The Windows installation, on the other hand, is an XP Pro with all the service packs, patches and such that Microsoft has made available. It should be "stable", in other words. Now, I tend to use XP less than Debian but when I do, it's for about the same stuff. Work and play. Programming, writing, and, of course, gaming, which is the one area where XP is better. Or rather, the availability of games is better.
Anyway, some months ago I thought it would be a cool thing to run BOINC, the Berkeley client software that uses your computer in screensaver mode to find aliens, the cure for cancer, and a number of other tasks suited for distributed computing. Not long after, inexplicably, XP started to try to shutdown itself, and whatever software that happened to be running, when emerging from screensaver or standby mode. It turned out that my particular version of BOINC was causing this so the cure was easy enough: once an update to BOINC was available, I installed it and voilà, the problem vanished.
But BOINC never was the real problem. Windows was. What kind of OS allows an application, a screensaver at that, to access such core functions as system shutdown or killing other processes? I've had my share of unstable applications in Debian crash on me, simply because they are of early alpha quality, untested or simply not very well designed. But none of them ever managed to bring the OS down with them. And none of them ever tried.
Why? Because a well-designed OS separates user space from kernel space, sees to it that the running privileges of any given piece of software never interleaf with the privileges of another, independent piece of software that happens to be running on the same OS at the same time. Yet, in the Windows world, the mix-up of user and kernel spaces is a time-honored tradition, there from their very first attempts at a multi-tasking OS. They've learned to hide the mix-up, yes, but the basic design flaw is still there and often readily apparent.
Considering her age, Kim Bauters probably wasn't using that many computers when the first versions of Microsoft Windows appeared (or, for that matter, the first versions of MS-DOS), but I can assure her that the kind of thinking that allowed BOINC to try to shutdown XP was there, just as it is now. In this respect, Microsoft has learned very little. Linux, on the other hand, has never had this problem (and thus no reason to "learn" from its past) since its solution is not that hard and is present in just about every *nix version ever designed.
But Kim Bauters is entitled to her opinion, even though I wonder what they teach to computer science students about OS design these days.
Wednesday 14 September 2005
It's O'Reilly's Fault
Want to read a good book or two? Have a look at O'Reilly's Open Books site. I was just browsing around on the Net, thinking that five minutes browsing the O'Reilly website probably wouldn't hurt my C studies. Now, three hours and an anthology on open source later, I know that I was naive to the extreme.
I'd better unplug the network cable tomorrow I want to get through that chapter on looping.
I'd better unplug the network cable tomorrow I want to get through that chapter on looping.
Monday 12 September 2005
Emacs and C
I've compiled my first C program. Successfully! And I wrote the thing using GNU Emacs.
(Those of you who fail to see the implications of these both factoids can safely ignore this post.)
(Those of you who fail to see the implications of these both factoids can safely ignore this post.)
Wednesday 7 September 2005
Speaking of Kubrick...
Warner, who owns the rights to most of Stanley Kubrick's old films, apparently thinks that a new 35mm print of "2001" is what the director would have wanted for the Draken screening later this fall. Why else is the magnificent 70mm print of the Kubrick classic left to rot in the Swedish Film Institute's freezer? Or do they think that nobody will notice the difference?
It's a shame nobody told Stanley this during the sixties. MGM could have saved a lot of money. Maybe, just maybe, they would have survived "Heaven's Gate" 15 years later and none of this would have happened.
It's a shame nobody told Stanley this during the sixties. MGM could have saved a lot of money. Maybe, just maybe, they would have survived "Heaven's Gate" 15 years later and none of this would have happened.
A Clockwork Orange, in Stereo?
Once a week, I show "classics" at the Draken cinema. Yesterday, it was time for "A Clockwork Orange", again. The film is overrated, to say the least, but some 200 patrons attended the screening anyway.
This I expected. Kubrick has his followers (and I expect more people to attend "2001" in a few weeks' time). What I didn't expect was the new print, with restored colours, an SRD (Dolby Digital) track, and, it seems, stereo sound.
Since when is "A Clockwork Orange" in stereo?
This I expected. Kubrick has his followers (and I expect more people to attend "2001" in a few weeks' time). What I didn't expect was the new print, with restored colours, an SRD (Dolby Digital) track, and, it seems, stereo sound.
Since when is "A Clockwork Orange" in stereo?
Monday 5 September 2005
alt.all.spammers.must.die
The downside of blogging becomes readily apparent when reading the comments to my blogs:
Spam.
C'mon, spammers, do you really think I'd buy stuff advertised in comments posted here? Get real.
Spam.
C'mon, spammers, do you really think I'd buy stuff advertised in comments posted here? Get real.
Saturday 3 September 2005
I'd Really Like to Upgrade Now...
...my Debian Sid box, that is. What did you think?
Only when I try apt-get dist-upgrade, apt wants to remove most of my KDE desktop. Apparently, they are switching to a later gcc version and need to recompile just about the whole distribution, which means that the dependencies are a mess right now. I can live with KDE 3.3 (in fact, I'm in no hurry with most of the other stuff I've got either), but I'd really like to install klineakconfig to get all those extra buttons on my MS wireless keyboard to work. Without messing with specific older versions, and certainly without manually writing that config file, thank you.
So, please...? This is as good a reason to learn C as anything I've heard.
Only when I try apt-get dist-upgrade, apt wants to remove most of my KDE desktop. Apparently, they are switching to a later gcc version and need to recompile just about the whole distribution, which means that the dependencies are a mess right now. I can live with KDE 3.3 (in fact, I'm in no hurry with most of the other stuff I've got either), but I'd really like to install klineakconfig to get all those extra buttons on my MS wireless keyboard to work. Without messing with specific older versions, and certainly without manually writing that config file, thank you.
So, please...? This is as good a reason to learn C as anything I've heard.
English or Swedish?
I'm Finnish by birth, live in Sweden, but write this blog in English. Why?
A vast majority of the world's Internet servers run on old *nix variants and will choke on just about any character beyond ASCII in a URL. There's a reasonable chance that the Swedish vowels å, ä, and ö aren't displayed correctly in your browser, even if you happen to live in Sweden and use a localized browser and a ditto OS. And, of course, even Swedes seem to prefer English to their native language, judging from TV commercials, newspaper ads, and whatnot.
We can send people to space (yes, I know, we may not always get them back in one piece so there's stuff to be perfected there, too) but is all this really beyond us?
Then again, a potential readership of more than a quarter of a billion readers instead of a little less than nine million does have its advantages, too.
A vast majority of the world's Internet servers run on old *nix variants and will choke on just about any character beyond ASCII in a URL. There's a reasonable chance that the Swedish vowels å, ä, and ö aren't displayed correctly in your browser, even if you happen to live in Sweden and use a localized browser and a ditto OS. And, of course, even Swedes seem to prefer English to their native language, judging from TV commercials, newspaper ads, and whatnot.
We can send people to space (yes, I know, we may not always get them back in one piece so there's stuff to be perfected there, too) but is all this really beyond us?
Then again, a potential readership of more than a quarter of a billion readers instead of a little less than nine million does have its advantages, too.
Friday 2 September 2005
Six Weeks of... Nothing?
Today was my last day on a project in which I wrote some XSLT and an XML Schema for this web service front end thingie for a large service information database. I've been doing this for six weeks, or about two months calendar time, and while it hasn't been the most rewarding of projects in terms of intellectual challenge, I've had some fun in the process.
Today, on my last day, they changed the design of the whole application. No more XSLT, no schema. We won't need them, thank you very much. Actually, no web service beyond an ftp service left masquerading as one, either, but I was never involved in any of the Java coding, so I don't care about that. What I do care about is that I just spent six weeks of doing, it turns out, nothing.
This is what you live for when you're a consultant. Usually, they won't throw away what you've done until you've left, but it does happen, and it just did.
Today, on my last day, they changed the design of the whole application. No more XSLT, no schema. We won't need them, thank you very much. Actually, no web service beyond an ftp service left masquerading as one, either, but I was never involved in any of the Java coding, so I don't care about that. What I do care about is that I just spent six weeks of doing, it turns out, nothing.
This is what you live for when you're a consultant. Usually, they won't throw away what you've done until you've left, but it does happen, and it just did.
My Very First Blog...
Earlier tonight, my wife Karin and I drank some wine (well, I drank beer; she had the wine) while talking about the kind of stuff that people put in their blogs these days (ten years ago, this stuff ended up in unmoderated newsgroups like misc.writing where nobody seldom talked about writing per se). One short subject after another came up, excellent blogging material, all of them. So that's what I said.
What's a blog? Karin asked.
What better way to explain than to create one and start blogging? A quick Google search led me to blogger.com (that's the kind of person I am; I need other people's opinions for reassurance), and about fifteen minutes later (of which most was spent coming up with a user name and a prefix to the URL), here I am. With my very own blog.
Karin, of course, lost interest in the subject even before we finished the wine (well, the beer), but imagine the fun I'll have, sending the URL to her first thing Monday morning. Cool.
So I hope you'll enjoy reading this. And if not, well, too bad.
Earlier tonight, my wife Karin and I drank some wine (well, I drank beer; she had the wine) while talking about the kind of stuff that people put in their blogs these days (ten years ago, this stuff ended up in unmoderated newsgroups like misc.writing where nobody seldom talked about writing per se). One short subject after another came up, excellent blogging material, all of them. So that's what I said.
What's a blog? Karin asked.
What better way to explain than to create one and start blogging? A quick Google search led me to blogger.com (that's the kind of person I am; I need other people's opinions for reassurance), and about fifteen minutes later (of which most was spent coming up with a user name and a prefix to the URL), here I am. With my very own blog.
Karin, of course, lost interest in the subject even before we finished the wine (well, the beer), but imagine the fun I'll have, sending the URL to her first thing Monday morning. Cool.
So I hope you'll enjoy reading this. And if not, well, too bad.
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