With 2006
coming to a close, anti-virus companies have stepped up their efforts to fill your harddrive. One of them is Symantec, which you probably know as the virus scanner that causes too many other problems that you’ll end up removing it.
That said, I was lured to the Norton Internet Security 2007 site and noticed this lovely picture of a woman posing on that famous Symantec box. Wait but that is not Peter Norton.
Peter obviously is doing fine these days.
The most interesting (scientific) news was that a team of astronomers discovered the most distant galaxy, which is 12-point-something billion lightyears away from us. This is interesting, because obviously, that particular galaxy is one of the first ones created after the Big Bang (which started 13.7 billion years ago).
I briefly watched TV today and saw that Daily Planet (a show I hardly watch for no particular reason other than that I generally don’t watch TV) covered the recent Montreal college shooting, which took me be surprise. I always understood that these shows were pre-recorded. Obviously they aren’t.
Talking about Daily Planet; They just published an article saying that Titan (the Saturn moon) could have snowfall.
And then Pluto’s downfall continues going down deep: the Planet formerly known as Pluto has been given the official name of ‘134340 Pluto’. Tragically, the ‘dwarf’ planet that was the cause of Pluto’s demotion, 2003 UBI313, has officially given the name of Eris (or see Wikipedia).
A second 
hurricane that flies off the coast of Nova Scotia (Florence), heading right for Newfoundland. Tomorrow that is.
I think the weather office reported rain for us all day, which didn’t turn out to be quite that right: it was actually more sunny than I expected. Since it was colder earlier this morning (furnace time has hit the residence), I ran around in sweater, something I deeply regretted at the end of the day.
I did not really follow Condo’s visit to Nova Scotia: you may just as well read it over at CBC’s. Colour me unimpressed. Related: Canada and the US signed the softwood deal.
With Syria foiling an attack on the US embassy in Damascus, what would the pundits say after the US government thanked the Syrian leadership! Nada, I guess, is the answer.
And then technology, where apparently Apple is going to create a set-top box: actually, it looks like it will only be able to download and play movies on your TV. Earlier I was browsing throught the current list of PVR-like devices. Most of them appear to have crappy user-interfaces, notably the ones that come from Philips. I wonder what OS these Philips devices run1: I think we all already know that TiVo’s run a modified Linux (and the company is adhering to the GPL, as you can see right here). I’m pretty sure that they run something like a BSD based Unix distro. But then, a company with the magnitude of Philips (Royal Philips at that) probably has created their own operating system.
1 Earlier I read that Philips PVR users just needed some kind of bootdisk to update/upgrade their existing firmware.
The last question for today: ‘Are Crystal and Joyce twins?’.
I’m pretty sure you weren’t joking when you typed that question into Google, and since I treat all your questions with the same logic I apply to programming projects, here’s my answer:
I honestly don’t know. I don’t know either person. If you’re too shy to ask them, here’s a hint: twins are generally evil. They don’t care if somebody asks them if they’re twins: they plainly get tired of answering the same question over and over. However, twins respond quite well to surreal humour, after all, it’s a surreal accident that put them in the situation of being twins1. I bet if you ask them if they’re triplets, they’ll laugh and admit that they’re actually twins2.
As a sidenote: most likely you ended up on this page if you searched for the above words.
1 Note: twins generally don’t come with a warranty, so you can’t trade them for other kids.
2 I have this theory that kids (nowadays) are actually all made in China: they last less longer during schooldays and above all, they literally look so mass produced that I can’t tell them apart. They all look the same! Back in the 70s, at least kids were home-made. Uh. So they say. And in the 50s, kids were made by storks. If you were born in the 60s, well, you’re out of luck: you probably came from outer-space.
The other question I see a lot in the logs is if Civilization 4 runs on the Intel GMA/GME chips (notably the 82855 chipsets).
Yes, it does. Well, frankly, since Patch version 1.09 it does (my configuration). It works perfectly fine actually: the extra animations (which require hardware T&L strangely enough) are nice but not really necessary.
For other Civ 4 related stuff, check out all postings in the category dedicated to this game.
Yes a 
brandnew category at xsamplex: you ask, we deliver!
I’ve been working on a Toshiba Satellite P100 SD3 (action picture) for a while now and I generally like it OK. It’s priced fairly well (it’s currently available at Staples and FutureShop) for what you get: it’s Duo (T2400), it’s got 1 Gig and most importantly, it has a GeForce GO 7300 (128 MB) which means that it will play your recent PC games. Look for X3 here for what you can expect.
That said, I find the harddrive the slowing factor: the built-in HD (a Toshiba MK1032GSX) is not a fast drive, which you may notice when you switch from fullscreen apps (games) to windowed apps [CTRL+TAB]. I also find 100 Gig not enough, particularly if you think about the space Windows XP already takes up.
The other part I don’t like is the keyboard: For some kind of illogical reason, the most important keys (arrow keys, semicolon, period, pipe, single quote) have been made smaller than the rest of the keys just so that the board would fit a freaking numeric keypad. So, the right side part of the keyboard doesn’t feel ‘well-balanced’, particularly if you’re a programmer: all the important programming keys are twice as small as the normal keys on the left hand side (see the image above: you can literally draw a diagonal line that separates the small keys from the big ones, starting from the > key up to the upper Pause/Break key). I also have my doubts about the quality of the keyboard: I have had no problems with previous Toshiba laptop keyboards, so maybe I’m wrong. If you look into buying this computer, I’d recommend you try out the keyboard first: if you’re not a programmer, you may not even notice the keyboard issues. You may even love that extra numeric keypad. Oh: don’t worry about that sales representative. It’s your right to fully test a laptop’s keyboard.
I do like the screen and since it allows you, you may just as well set the screen to the highest possible resolution. The NVidia driver comes with plenty of gimmicks: most of the features you probably end up turning off. The big screen (17″!) seems to be the main cause of the lower than average battery lifetime: if you make it two hours on the standard battery, consider yourself lucky. I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the Duo core: actually, I find the T2400 perform excellent: for the power push test, try executing multiple applications that run multiple threads. It’s a damn well, efficient processor. Which makes me wonder how those other processor do (I’m particularly curious about those AMD Dual Athlon processors).
The low-down: it’s a remarkably well-priced computer. It runs Debian and Ubuntu with no problems, which makes this laptop ready for the latest and greatest stuff on Linux. Its Duo Core performs extremely efficient under stress (without generating too much heat, as far as I can tell). The Harman Kardon speakers are extra and produce excellent sound, and the screen, it’s huge, brilliant and perfect. However, I’ll be honest: if you can and are willing to spend an extra 100 dollars on a computer with a bigger (and faster) harddrive1, with the same configuration (i.e, 1 Gig, NVidia/ATI, Duo Core), you may want to look for something else. If you think you’re going mobile a lot, consider going for a laptop with a smaller screen: the 17 inch screens look l33t, but frankly, they just kill battery life. And, if you’re a programmer who types a lot, you may want to try the keyboard out before buying this: ironically all important programming keys that happen to be on the right-hand side of the keyboard have been made significantly smaller.
1 : Most laptops probably carry Toshiba HDs.
Extra Linux stuff (how to get the sound working back again)
While I can’t stand telemarketeers, the worst kind of telemarketing types are the ‘automated ones’: you know the one that starts with telling you ‘how sorry they are calling at this inconvenient time’ and then tell you to ‘press 1 or 2 to find out what deals they have for you’.
I mean, how dare they? What’s the point? I’d like to talk to real people and tell them ‘No thank you very much’. I’d like to say ‘No not now’ and slam the phone. I mean, that’s at least my right if you call me and I decide that I really don’t appreciate your message, advertisement or ‘grand deal’ because not only you called at an inconvenient time: Also because your grand deal is shoved and pushed on me.
And you know what? If you send an automated message, I’ll start ignoring your stores right off the bat. You’re first, Leon’s.
I was
going to add a bunch of other entries to the ‘Past the Bridge’ category, but decided to postpone anything after I discovered Shannon’s ‘Let the music play’ video at YouTube. If you feel so obliged, a sample can be found right here (600K, 40s).
There’s not much I can add to Wikipedia’s entry on Shannon (and particularly that song): That particular entry smells like it took some text from an older NYT article. Yes, I remember it was a big hit and yes, the song was pretty popular with breakers. I keep wondering though, if she was in ‘Beat street’, that campy Eighties movie about rap and that. I’m also unsure if she’s still around, since searching our overlord ‘Google’ only returns pointers to the predictable CD resellers. Yes, I noticed she was also on ‘Hit me baby one more time’, a show where ‘one time hit stars’ duke it out against other ‘one time hit stars’. That doesn’t sound like a fun concept but, surprisingly the following reviewer was most likely too young to remember the singer:
She did her hit “Let the Music Play.†I have never heard this song, which means a lot considering I am a music expert.
Right, you’re not a music expert. But then, so once in a while, 1983 sounds like the Stone Age to me too.
Way too early 
in the morning, I decided to watch ‘Mahagonny’. Today’s link-bunch is brought to you by Jim Mahoney, so to say.
The biggest buzz on the Internet is still (and you can’t have missed it): ABC’s docudrama ‘Path to 9-11’. I think it’s sufficient to link to Google News. In 200 years, your grand-grand-grandkids will remember which US broadcaster made a national joke of itself. Or just maybe, in 20 years, one of Spielberg’s grandkids will make a movie about 9-11, but then with all the gore including a dramatization of the ‘jumping man’.
For the first time I agree with Scoble, in this case about the HP affair. Chairwoman goes a bit too far to find out who leaked information to the press. Too far as in ‘using probably illegal means’.
I was surprised but delighted to hear that Paul Verhoeven has returned to directing Dutch movies. However, it appears to me that he has some kind of obsession with the 2nd World War. His newest movie (recently released in Dutch theatres) ‘Zwart Boek’ (“Black Book”) tells the story of a Jewish girl who is accused of being a traitor. I read Verhoeven is also going to direct a movie about Masaharu “Beast of Bataan” Homma.
Then, earlier I was listening to my MP3 collection, when Sonic Youth’s cover of ‘Ca Plane Pour Moi’ (sample, 500K+ sample)comes up. I’m not sure if Thurston Moore is just improvising, but it sounds like it. Pardon his French, so to say.
Originally the song was sung by Plastic Bertrand and became quite a hit in Europe for reasons unknown to me. The only thing I remember of this phenomenon is a guy wearing a Michael Jackson jacket and lots of trampolines, things that don’t show up in the official demo clip. Maybe it was a localized (for Dutch public only) version of the clip I saw. Or maybe it was one of those ‘live’ performances on the Dutch Top of the Pops show.
So why even bring it up? When listening Sonic Youth’s rendition of the song, I found this video of a performance of (what appears) the French version of ‘Canadian Idol’ ‘American Idol’ or uh, whatever show it is, of a guy singing the very same song. Apparently this song apparently strikes a note with people from my generation, which I find interesting but mostly, embarrassing. How come that the most obnoxious songs always pop up when 40 is around the corner?
Minor update: Lyrics of ‘Ca Plane Pour Moi’.
A week ago, I made ‘boerenkool’. I discussed Boerenkool a long while ago too, when a prepared the same meal for our guest from Holland. My wife actually wanted me to make it since it was that long ago, so she bought locally grown kale. Imagine this: the last time I had kale was Christmas of 2003. Texas kale that was nonetheless.
I have no problems peeling onions. I actually like onions raw. Wait, let me restate that: I can eat onions like people eat apples. This is half as weird as people eating raw potatoes. Talking about raw stuff, raw leeks go perfectly fine with peanut sauce.
But to stick with the topic: a couple of years ago when I was returning home, my (dying) mother specifically requested to have an Indonesian meal (in this case it was ‘Sambal Goreng’) prepared, which was a task it was decided I was going to take up. Upon peeling the onions, I remember the tears welling up. My twin-half hurled a sardonic sneer at me about onions, peeling and that. It is that at that time it appeared to me that European onions have been genetically engineered to make foreigners cry so that genuine Europeans can make fun of them.
Ergo: Europeans are evil.
For no particular reason, I was reminded of the movie ‘Amsterdamned’ (1988, IMDB description), a fine Dutch thriller / horror about a scuba diver with a large blade. Or something like that. I can’t really remember the details except for that the title song was sung by a (Dutch) band called Lois Lane (Dutch site here). The titlesong was a hit then too, with the following brilliant lines:
You can’t hide
From the monster reptile, ooohooo, yeah
Amsterdamned, Amsterdamned, oho
This is Amsterdamned
Not brilliant then, but at least it’s catchy, right? And then there is this Washington Post review (1988) that says:
The story is hopelessly stale; even the hairstyles seem time-warped. Supposedly, the film was something of a sensation in Holland, which perhaps says more about the cultural life of the Netherlands than about the movie. The notoriety, I would imagine, is due to some of the director’s more garish touches, like the murder of an attractive, scantily swimsuited young woman in a tiny inflatable boat.
Hey, bud, we’re talking about Amsterdam here: it’s all about boats and scantily dressed people. And scuba divers. Lots of them.
Not completely related: I saw David Lynch got a honourary lifetime achievement award at the Venice film festival. The festival also showed Lynch’s latest movie, which ‘includes hallucinatory scenes and a rabbit voiced by Naomi Watts’. Lynch apparently baffled critics by saying that the movie (Inland Empire) ‘made perfectly sense’. I think, I’d like to see this movie.
You can tell the difference between people in how they use tools. For example, when Google released their Google News Archives (“Google Opens Up 200 years of news”, BBC), some people decide to ‘ego search’. Talking about ‘historical relevance’.
I read most of the Dutch literature about the fall of the Dutch Indies (to be honest, there isn’t much literature about it, but for now you can just pretend there is) in the early Forties, so, I decided to do a search for ‘Surabaya’, which happened to be the main Dutch naval base at that time. Google allows for refining the search by years, so the relevant time period (1940s) gives amazing results. Most of them are Time Magazine reports (obviously with a typical American slant) that describe the over-optimistic feelings towards the (impending) Japanese invasion on Java island. Reading the following fragment surely describes in what world the military lived in those days:
Designed originally for defense from sea assault, Surabaya had already felt bombs from the air, expected land assaults from the rear before long. But there was still hope in Batavia. Colonial Dutchmen quoted their Admiral: “Who knows better than the people of our islands the profound truth of the time-hallowed saying: ‘The tide will turn’?”
Quite over-optimistic, I’d say. That said, Google’s News Archives, is obviously more of value for historians than the ‘ego searching A-list blogger’.
Update: Related Businessweek article plus Slashdot discussion.
