via Linux for Devices - RSS Feeds on 12/28/10
20101229
20101223
CIA's WTF to investigate impact of WikiLeaks
LOL CIA WTF FFS GTP (the last one is greeklish) :D
by the way, if the CIA would have assessed the impact earlier, after wikileaks' asked the US ambassador to examine the leaks before publishing the "leakage" (here and here), all these problems would not exist now.
by the way, if the CIA would have assessed the impact earlier, after wikileaks' asked the US ambassador to examine the leaks before publishing the "leakage" (here and here), all these problems would not exist now.
via Engadget by Donald Melanson on 12/22/10
UN on the wikileaks
cidh.oas.org/relatoria/showarticle.asp?artID=829&lID=1
IMHO, this article condemns the US stance and considers it as a violation of the free speech :D
20101222
Ancient humans interbred with us
how did the homo sapiens sapiens prevail? It must have been either interbreeding or simple racism and marginalization :P
Also, as can be seen on the diagram that shows the human family tree, Neanderthal DNA traces can be found in all the human lineages that can be viewed in the diagram, except the African.
Also, as can be seen on the diagram that shows the human family tree, Neanderthal DNA traces can be found in all the human lineages that can be viewed in the diagram, except the African.
via BBC News - Home on 12/22/10
Cyberdyne HAL Exoskeleton to Be Shown Off at CES 2011
The coolest part is that the exoskeleton moves on its own, based on what you want it to do. Thus, it's a movement amplifier. :P Imagine having an involuntary muscle contraction. This thing will just amplify it ;)
via SlashGear by Evan Selleck on 12/22/10
Secret Soviet-era laser tank pops up in the Ivanovo Oblast
a laser tank. when others were jumping from pole to pole in the Olympic games of Barcelona, the Russians were building laser tanks :P
via Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley on 12/22/10
20101221
Kinect admits itself to hospital, treated for gesture control of medical images
A truly awesome application of the kinect! A gloveless minority report style interface is closer in the mainstream than we imagine (and it is actually put to good use) :D
via Engadget by Darren Murph on 12/21/10
Heart Spark pendant blinks with your heart
how nice, a perfect gift for the Valentine's day for your geeky sweetheart :D
via Engadget by Darren Murph on 12/20/10
20101220
FBI backdoors in OpenBSD claims covert coder
All conspiracy theorists of the world rejoice! :P
via SlashGear by Chris Davies on 12/15/10
British government wants all porn filtered out of the web
The British government is forgetting one thing: that the internet is for porn
via Engadget by Vlad Savov on 12/20/10
20101218
The woman who cannot experience fear
via BBC News - Home on 12/17/10
A woman who is unable to feel fear may help scientists find treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and create the brutal unstoppable army of really angry ladies :P
Seriously though, by removing a part of one's brain, he/she is unable to experience fear. By extending this pattern to other emotions, one can argue that the very soul of a human being is partitioned in a number of distinct "hardware" (would flesh and blood be more appropriate maybe?) components. Each component is dedicated to a certain function (e.g. risk management, graphics processing, audio processing, social processor, reasoning unit, anxiety control, arithmetic unit, e.t.c..).
This hardware component paradigm is very familiar to us (by "us", I mean people familiar with the general principles of simple machine design; btw, most of us are familiar with these concepts [by the latter "us", I mean everyone]). But I digress.
So, one could choose to believe that since people have been thusly built, someone must have designed them. But I digress.
Finally, a rather intriguing (and, IMHO very awesome) argument would be that essentially we are a conglomeration (a swarm, if you will) of organisms that chose to cooperate in order to survive through the hardships of the world that surrounded them and after millions of years have evolved to the specialized organs that constitute our bodies. This isn't anything new or radical, as it can be deduced intuitively by the fact that life began from a single cell organism.
The point is that, since even the most tightly woven to the human "soul" emotions are being controlled by different parts of the brain, the personality and thoughts of each human must conversely be defined by the signals exchanged between the "organisms" in the human's brain. Ergo, a single soul might not exist. What it does exist is a collection of hardware components that accept certain input (e.g. images) and produce certain output (e.g. fear).
20101217
Self-Powered House Generates Income for You
Midday sunshine 'benefits health'
The sunshine! Let's go out and play and climb trees and stuff! In the sunshine! Weeeeeee :D
This reminds me of the iconic hair song:
Leeeeeeeeeeet the sunshine, leeeeeeeeeeet the sunshine in. The suuuuuuunshine in...
Gay hippie happiness :D
New health advice on vitamin D recommends short spells in the sun - without sunscreen and in the middle of the day.
This reminds me of the iconic hair song:
Leeeeeeeeeeet the sunshine, leeeeeeeeeeet the sunshine in. The suuuuuuunshine in...
Gay hippie happiness :D
via BBC News - Home on 12/16/10
New health advice on vitamin D recommends short spells in the sun - without sunscreen and in the middle of the day.
20101214
20101210
20101208
Google unveils Chrome OS notebook
Too bad that I don't live in the US :(
via BBC News - Home on 12/7/10
20101205
Bluetooth-enabled meds to enter European bloodstreams
Nice :D
via Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley on 11/10/10
20101204
20101203
WikiLeaks: Chinese Politburo responsible for Google hacking
20101202
20101201
Mercury 'turns birds homosexual'
This shows that homosexuality in animals that function without advanced operating systems might be a disease.
Will mercury have the same effects on the hominidae family? Imagine the possibilities on overpopulation!
The population will be controlled by planes and helicopters that will spray cities with a mercuric chloride (HgCl2) solution. This will kill many many people and turn many to gay :P objective achieved ;)
Will mercury have the same effects on the hominidae family? Imagine the possibilities on overpopulation!
The population will be controlled by planes and helicopters that will spray cities with a mercuric chloride (HgCl2) solution. This will kill many many people and turn many to gay :P objective achieved ;)
via BBC News - Home on 12/1/10
20101127
20101126
20101124
GNU/Linux and Enlightenment Running On a Fridge
The fridge I will buy :D
via Slashdot: Linux by timothy on 11/24/10
20101123
CHIP-8 emulation comes to Half-Life 2, you can finally retire your Telmac 18
The intel core i13 will only be released in the world of warcraft :P
via Engadget by Joseph L. Flatley on 11/15/10
20101122
Laser-Guided Slingshot is Do It Yourself Project
An improvement of the slingshot would be to leave the bolts free to rotate, add a servo mechanism in order to synchronize the laser with the movement of the bolts and fasten the bands tightly on the bolts in order to rotate the bolts according to their angle. \m/
via SlashGear by Evan Selleck on 11/22/10
20101121
20101120
Premature ovarian failure
diluted saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it:
"I had my menopause at 28"
A new study hopes to offer help to young women undergoing the menopause
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/health-11784759
should see it:
"I had my menopause at 28"
A new study hopes to offer help to young women undergoing the menopause
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/health-11784759
20101119
Why should we invest more in space and marine exploration
Hi!
How y'all doing? I'm fine too, thank thee :)
In this post, I will argue on the need to invest more money in the exploration and colonization of the solar system (and beyond) and the depths of the sea.
Throughout history, human kind has been defined by expansion. With expansion I mean habitat expansion. This expansion is required or encouraged by:
Let's now see if the reasons for expansion are valid for our time:
Having discovered the whole world (as our satellites have proven), we must now turn to more difficult endeavors, in order to survive as a species (in the long run) and in order to avoid future financial crises and wars.
The last two can actually be connected ([1] [2] [3]) in the fashion that financial crisis causes war, which can be viewed as the solution for the crisis due to the development for war, during the war and after the war.
So, we should go forth and explore the far reaches of space and depths of sea. It is essential for our survival.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
How y'all doing? I'm fine too, thank thee :)
In this post, I will argue on the need to invest more money in the exploration and colonization of the solar system (and beyond) and the depths of the sea.
Throughout history, human kind has been defined by expansion. With expansion I mean habitat expansion. This expansion is required or encouraged by:
- Overcrowding
- Lack of resources
- Quests for glory (not the legendary Sierra game) and wealth
- Scientific (or just plain simple) curiosity and search for adventure
- Possibly other reasons that I cannot think of right now :P
Let's now see if the reasons for expansion are valid for our time:
- Overcrowding
- It's high time to find an escape from this discomfort except committing suicide (BioTek - Die Sect), killing each other and not giving birth to anything.
- Lack of resources
- We need more resources.
- Quest for Glory - Wealth
- Human nature
- Adventure - curiosity
- Human nature
Having discovered the whole world (as our satellites have proven), we must now turn to more difficult endeavors, in order to survive as a species (in the long run) and in order to avoid future financial crises and wars.
The last two can actually be connected ([1] [2] [3]) in the fashion that financial crisis causes war, which can be viewed as the solution for the crisis due to the development for war, during the war and after the war.
So, we should go forth and explore the far reaches of space and depths of sea. It is essential for our survival.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20101118
Ireland bail-out talks in Dublin
4 down (Hungary, Latvia, Greece and Ireland), 23 to go :P (the UK received a bail-out in 1976, but that's history)
via BBC News - Home on 11/17/10
20101117
20101115
20101114
Oh geeky tree, oh geeky tree, how square are thy branches
20101113
voting = lost cause?
Hi!
Should we vote? Who we should vote for?
As you probably already now, I'm not so much into politics.
I do support freedom coupled with kindness and all these traits that are required in order for people to live harmonically in groups without starting killing and eating each other (because of the freedom they enjoy along the inherent predatory instincts), but I also know that human nature prohibits us to be good with each other at all times (due to personal ambition, jealousy or whatever) and I believe that almost any political system would be acceptable by anyone, if everyone was fair, had noble motives, lacked vanity and envy and was kind at heart.
Since this is implausible, I sort of think that the world must make the leap towards direct (pure) democracy, where everyone (who is willing to participate) will have a right to vote for every decision of the world-country-city-village-group (this is more than feasible today using the freakin' net).
So, a first step in order to convert the political system here in Greece could be to actively deny to vote for anyone. Someone could argue here that a good protest vote would be to vote something other than the mainstream; I accept and respect that.
When a feeble (due to lack of voter support) government takes power, we'll start protesting and demand a brutal capitalistic flavor of direct democracy.
Our will be done afterwards.
Ta ta,
--
elias a.k.a. diluted
Should we vote? Who we should vote for?
As you probably already now, I'm not so much into politics.
I do support freedom coupled with kindness and all these traits that are required in order for people to live harmonically in groups without starting killing and eating each other (because of the freedom they enjoy along the inherent predatory instincts), but I also know that human nature prohibits us to be good with each other at all times (due to personal ambition, jealousy or whatever) and I believe that almost any political system would be acceptable by anyone, if everyone was fair, had noble motives, lacked vanity and envy and was kind at heart.
Since this is implausible, I sort of think that the world must make the leap towards direct (pure) democracy, where everyone (who is willing to participate) will have a right to vote for every decision of the world-country-city-village-group (this is more than feasible today using the freakin' net).
So, a first step in order to convert the political system here in Greece could be to actively deny to vote for anyone. Someone could argue here that a good protest vote would be to vote something other than the mainstream; I accept and respect that.
When a feeble (due to lack of voter support) government takes power, we'll start protesting and demand a brutal capitalistic flavor of direct democracy.
Our will be done afterwards.
Ta ta,
--
elias a.k.a. diluted
20101112
20101110
Only 40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices sold at US launch?
20101109
'Mystery missile' launches in US
The revenge of the black hat \m/ bomb indiscriminately wherever the wind blows. it will be fun destroying the world. just think of the tranquility afterwards. and the toxicity (of all our major cities). at least life as we know it won't be easily sustainable. what a freakin' relief.
Pentagon officials are at a loss to explain a reported missile launch off the coast of California on Monday, but say it is not a threat.
via BBC News - Home on 11/9/10
Pentagon officials are at a loss to explain a reported missile launch off the coast of California on Monday, but say it is not a threat.
20101108
Hell’s Foundry DashLink Lets you Dock your iPod Touch on your Harley
vroom vroom vroom brabrabrabra :P (this is from southpark, for those who are ignorant, hee hee) ;P
Blog on the facebook
For facebook/blogger integration use this video howto. (it is a little bit outdated, but I think you'll figure it out)
Ants enslave the strong not weak
diluted saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.
** Ants enslave the strong not weak **
Slavemaker ants target strongly defended colonies when seeking new servants, researchers find.
should see it.
** Ants enslave the strong not weak **
Slavemaker ants target strongly defended colonies when seeking new servants, researchers find.
Nuclear Bunker Houses World's Toughest Server Farm
\m/
Lanxon writes "Deep inside the Swiss Alps, a former nuclear bunker is now the ultimate hiding place for the world's most sensitive secrets — the Swiss Fort Knox. In a lengthy feature, Wired gains access to the server farm designed to survive a full-scale military attack. From the article: 'As we punch our codes at the checkpoint, the yellow door opens into what looks like a city of server towers, their green LEDs flickering as a technician in a white jumpsuit runs diagnostic checks. [Later], we are in a dimly lit tunnel next to what looks like a metal oven door carved into the side of the rock. "These are expansion rooms in case you have an atomic explosion outside," Christoph Oschwald, a retired Swiss paratrooper turned contractor, says. The thinking behind the rooms, he explains, is that if there were a nuclear explosion, the rush of high-pressure air would fill them through vents in the opposite side. Then, the vents would snap shut, trapping the air before it had a chance of damaging the fortress. "There is a lot of protection you can't see," he says. We stroll past an intricate network of insulated pipelines that carry water up from the underground glacial lake to the cooling system.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
via Slashdot: Hardware by samzenpus on 11/3/10
Lanxon writes "Deep inside the Swiss Alps, a former nuclear bunker is now the ultimate hiding place for the world's most sensitive secrets — the Swiss Fort Knox. In a lengthy feature, Wired gains access to the server farm designed to survive a full-scale military attack. From the article: 'As we punch our codes at the checkpoint, the yellow door opens into what looks like a city of server towers, their green LEDs flickering as a technician in a white jumpsuit runs diagnostic checks. [Later], we are in a dimly lit tunnel next to what looks like a metal oven door carved into the side of the rock. "These are expansion rooms in case you have an atomic explosion outside," Christoph Oschwald, a retired Swiss paratrooper turned contractor, says. The thinking behind the rooms, he explains, is that if there were a nuclear explosion, the rush of high-pressure air would fill them through vents in the opposite side. Then, the vents would snap shut, trapping the air before it had a chance of damaging the fortress. "There is a lot of protection you can't see," he says. We stroll past an intricate network of insulated pipelines that carry water up from the underground glacial lake to the cooling system.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Recommended Article By diluted: Why newspapers make you stupid
Memorable quote from this article: Thomas Jefferson said: "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." ;)Why newspapers make you stupid
20101105
Twitterizing the blog
Hi!
Blogs are traditionally used to express opinions and thoughts in lengthy documents enriched with pictures and other multimedia elements.
I really respect and admire this practice; that's why I started this blog a couple of years ago. Though, due to my lack of commitment to this noble cause and because of the more than occasional boredom fits, I'm not usually able to compose the up-to-my-perceived-blog-standard documents, rich analyses of the contemporary events (e.g. the upcoming municipal elections) and, most importantly, geeky articles commenting on technological advancements, scientific breakthrough or generic blabber.
So, I have decided to use the blog as a conveyor of short messages, media and links.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
Blogs are traditionally used to express opinions and thoughts in lengthy documents enriched with pictures and other multimedia elements.
I really respect and admire this practice; that's why I started this blog a couple of years ago. Though, due to my lack of commitment to this noble cause and because of the more than occasional boredom fits, I'm not usually able to compose the up-to-my-perceived-blog-standard documents, rich analyses of the contemporary events (e.g. the upcoming municipal elections) and, most importantly, geeky articles commenting on technological advancements, scientific breakthrough or generic blabber.
So, I have decided to use the blog as a conveyor of short messages, media and links.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20101104
24 hour film "The Clock"
This is a very interesting idea actually. The effort to collect all the pieces and edit all of them into such an amalgamation seems huge to my untrained eyes :P
20100727
Barcelona photos
Hi!
Remember that in a previous post I said that I will upload some photos from Barcelona? Well, I "uploaded" them, so here they are :P
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
Remember that in a previous post I said that I will upload some photos from Barcelona? Well, I "uploaded" them, so here they are :P
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
Apache bandwidth limiting
Hi!
How do you do people?
I am fine! Today I discovered that the web server at my home can consume a lot of my precious bandwidth (probably someone is trying to download some videos I have there :P).
So, since I don't want to prohibit anyone from downloading things from my site, I found this site, which describes the bandwidth limiting module of the apache web server.
This module seems to work, but it remains to see if it is capable to increase the perceived bandwidth. (Let me confide.. perceived bandwidth=the bandwidth that keeps me [and my network's users] satisfied, the bandwidth that gives me all I need)
So, with dust in throat I crave only knowledge :P
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
How do you do people?
I am fine! Today I discovered that the web server at my home can consume a lot of my precious bandwidth (probably someone is trying to download some videos I have there :P).
So, since I don't want to prohibit anyone from downloading things from my site, I found this site, which describes the bandwidth limiting module of the apache web server.
This module seems to work, but it remains to see if it is capable to increase the perceived bandwidth. (Let me confide.. perceived bandwidth=the bandwidth that keeps me [and my network's users] satisfied, the bandwidth that gives me all I need)
So, with dust in throat I crave only knowledge :P
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100716
apografi.gov.gr
This post is related with the devastating failure of the EU member state of Greece to produce a decent web service.
My mother is a civil servant (a teacher in the public high school to be exact).
The government has required all the civil servants to participate in a census of some kind (in order to find out who is getting paid by it, I suppose).
This can only be done through the web service at the site http://apografi.gov.gr.
But people are not able to access the web service whenever they want until the deadline (contrary to the popular belief that this is a fundamental requirement for every web service). They must do it on a certain range of days, which is defined by their taxpayer identification number (ΑΦΜ, a popular number in Greece, unique for every citizen) [e.g. the 25th of July is reserved for those whose ΑΦΜ ends in 5].
OK, this is shortcoming #1.
Shortcoming #2 is much more important, since #1 can be interpreted by the fact that the government wanted to avoid heavy loads on the day that the deadline expires.
The failure #2:
Let's assume now that Tes is a civil servant with an ΑΦΜ that ends in 2 and she must enter the web service between the 1st and the 15th of July (the numbers, dates and names are random, any resemblance to an actual person is purely coincidental :P). So, being a diligent and hard working lady, she decides to go to the site in the 4th of July (the date is, again, random). She tries to do her chore, but to no avail, as the server doesn't function well (the lists of the prefectures won't load, her address won't be automatically located, the lists of possible public sector assignments won't load). She tries the next days and still isn't able to access the service.
That's all.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
My mother is a civil servant (a teacher in the public high school to be exact).
The government has required all the civil servants to participate in a census of some kind (in order to find out who is getting paid by it, I suppose).
This can only be done through the web service at the site http://apografi.gov.gr.
But people are not able to access the web service whenever they want until the deadline (contrary to the popular belief that this is a fundamental requirement for every web service). They must do it on a certain range of days, which is defined by their taxpayer identification number (ΑΦΜ, a popular number in Greece, unique for every citizen) [e.g. the 25th of July is reserved for those whose ΑΦΜ ends in 5].
OK, this is shortcoming #1.
Shortcoming #2 is much more important, since #1 can be interpreted by the fact that the government wanted to avoid heavy loads on the day that the deadline expires.
The failure #2:
Let's assume now that Tes is a civil servant with an ΑΦΜ that ends in 2 and she must enter the web service between the 1st and the 15th of July (the numbers, dates and names are random, any resemblance to an actual person is purely coincidental :P). So, being a diligent and hard working lady, she decides to go to the site in the 4th of July (the date is, again, random). She tries to do her chore, but to no avail, as the server doesn't function well (the lists of the prefectures won't load, her address won't be automatically located, the lists of possible public sector assignments won't load). She tries the next days and still isn't able to access the service.
That's all.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100704
Barcelona
Hola from Barcelona, Spain! :P
How y'all doing?
I'm vacating in Barcelona for about a week now and it is really cool. The best feature of the city is the proximity of the beach (Barceloneta) to the center of the city.
Photos will follow when I'll get back to Greece.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
How y'all doing?
I'm vacating in Barcelona for about a week now and it is really cool. The best feature of the city is the proximity of the beach (Barceloneta) to the center of the city.
Photos will follow when I'll get back to Greece.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100501
Zeitgeist Addendum
Hi!
Today I watched zeitgeist addendum for a second time in order to refresh some parts about the monetary system, the IMF and the US of A and correlate that with the EU and the the destruction, demise and total 3rdWorldation of Greece.
I don't agree with every argument in the movie; which by the way is a conglomeration of pretty much reasonable assumptions and obvious observations mingled with a hint of conspiracy theories.
As a matter of fact, I always get really frustrated hearing all the stuff that these Venus Project people are saying; do they forget that humans are animals? That we are genetically designed to compete each other in order to determine the the alpha male, as most of the primates do? (and, as a matter of fact, all the members of the hominidae [orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and humans]) (sorry girls, but -equality apart- have you ever seen a female gorilla or female chimpanzee or another female hominidae be the leader in their respective society?)
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100418
Brain Multitasking
Lately, while I was solving a rather difficult problem on IPv6, I read this report about multitasking (on humans, not the iPhone).
(Picture found at http://www.textually.org)
Each of these two tasks gets handled by one of the hemispheres of the brain.
Executive Summary-Conclusion
I know that the executive summary is usually at the top of the publication, but this format has recently become very popular in Greece.
In this paper, I have presented my thoughts on the multitasking capabilities of the brain.
License: GPLv3
That's all :)
[1] Margaret Weigel, Katie Heikkinen, "Developing Minds with Digital Media: Habits of Mind in the YouTube Era", Developing Minds with Digital Media Project, Harvard, November 2007
(Picture found at http://www.textually.org)
Facts
The article more or less described that human brain is capable of handling two tasks simultaneously, but no more than that (by the way, I think that these tasks resemble processes and not threads, as they don't seem to share a common address space [e.g. texting while driving or watching TV while cooking], but I digress). In order to support more than two tasks humans employ task switching, much like the way single processor (pre-Opteron) computers (and, recently, the iPhone) handle multitasking, but they pretty much suck at it when the tasks become increasingly complex [1] (much like my mobile phone, which I otherwise adore).Each of these two tasks gets handled by one of the hemispheres of the brain.
Speculations
My thoughts on the brain multitasking are the following:- I assume that our brain is something like a dual core processor. Based on my personal observations though [reference is missing here], I think that one of the hemispheres is dominant and handles the complex tasks, while the other is secondary and handles more simple tasks and/or provides aid for the more complex tasks.
- I also think that the secondary hemisphere is the sub-conscience
- When you are consumed in a heavy-mental (lol) task and someone asks you something: Your secondary hemisphere will probably successfully answer, but your answer was not actually your answer; it's the answer of your sub-conscious brain.
- Having conversations while sleeping. This is your secondary hemisphere speaking, who (or which? how much do you value your alter-ego?) is not sleeping at that time.
- The popular "sleep on this". The primary hemisphere sleeps while the secondary can process the pressing issues, free of worries and distractions.
- One form of multiple personality could be the rebellion of the secondary hemisphere. The sub-conscience does not want to be hidden any more and, thus, once in a while, it gets unleashed from the tethers of the conscious brain (\m/).
- Ambidexterity is when both the hemispheres are equal and work in harmony towards the completion of every task at "hand".
Executive Summary-Conclusion
I know that the executive summary is usually at the top of the publication, but this format has recently become very popular in Greece.In this paper, I have presented my thoughts on the multitasking capabilities of the brain.
License: GPLv3
That's all :)
References
(links to websites have been deliberately omitted, since they are mentioned using HTML)[1] Margaret Weigel, Katie Heikkinen, "Developing Minds with Digital Media: Habits of Mind in the YouTube Era", Developing Minds with Digital Media Project, Harvard, November 2007
20100313
GPL Recipe
Hi!
How y'all doing?
After huge public demand, I decided to open source the recipe that can be obtained at my previous post (http://dilulog.blogspot.com/2010/02/todays-special-dish.html).
So, now it is licensed under GPL version 3. A copy of the license can be found here.
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100309
Qik - office by Elias Polytarchos
This is a video that I shared through the Qik using my mobile phone.
20100217
Eric Grohe & Greece
Hi!
How y'all doing?
Two days ago I received an email from a friend that contained a PowerPoint presentation about an artist Eric Grohe Miller, who specializes in murals. I was fascinated by Mr. Grohe's artworks, so I googled him using (obviously) his name (Eric Grohe Miller) as the search keyword.
Interestingly, the majority of the results originated from Greek sites (or blog posts from Greeks or sites that are one way or another affiliated with Greece). I was really intrigued by this fact, so I clicked on this link, which, by the way, was the first result. In this page there is a presentation of the mural that has been designed by Eric Grohe for the Miller brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thus, the whole Greek cyberspace (sic) is literally filled with false information about Eric Grohe. Some exceptions exist, but they are just a handful.
So, reasonably, I started contemplating on various issues:
First of all, the reason why people tend to circulate unverified information. The effect of people acting merely as repeaters of information is tightly connected with rumours.I am using the more general term "people", instead of Greeks, as, I suspect, judging from the rumours concerning the recent H1N1 "outburst" (this is the first example that popped into my head), that this is a global attribute of humans and it is not an indigenous characteristic of Greeks.
The reasons for rumour spreading could be:
Another thought had to do with the addition of the "Miller". Why do people from Greece think Miller is his last name? Some possible explanations:
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
How y'all doing?
Two days ago I received an email from a friend that contained a PowerPoint presentation about an artist Eric Grohe Miller, who specializes in murals. I was fascinated by Mr. Grohe's artworks, so I googled him using (obviously) his name (Eric Grohe Miller) as the search keyword.
Interestingly, the majority of the results originated from Greek sites (or blog posts from Greeks or sites that are one way or another affiliated with Greece). I was really intrigued by this fact, so I clicked on this link, which, by the way, was the first result. In this page there is a presentation of the mural that has been designed by Eric Grohe for the Miller brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thus, the whole Greek cyberspace (sic) is literally filled with false information about Eric Grohe. Some exceptions exist, but they are just a handful.
So, reasonably, I started contemplating on various issues:
First of all, the reason why people tend to circulate unverified information. The effect of people acting merely as repeaters of information is tightly connected with rumours.I am using the more general term "people", instead of Greeks, as, I suspect, judging from the rumours concerning the recent H1N1 "outburst" (this is the first example that popped into my head), that this is a global attribute of humans and it is not an indigenous characteristic of Greeks.
The reasons for rumour spreading could be:
- Trust to the fellow human being (who is spreading the rumour)
- Gullibility (from the recipient of the rumour)
- Boredom to verify whether the rumours are just rumours or not
- The inherent need of people to impress others
Another thought had to do with the addition of the "Miller". Why do people from Greece think Miller is his last name? Some possible explanations:
- The site is named "Eric Grohe Murals and Design". Someone with insufficient English knowledge and/or poor eyesight could have misinterpreted the Mural as Miller.
- One of the Grohe's murals being displayed in the site has been designed for the Miller brewery, so a Google search after a conversation for a misheard "Eric Grohe Miller" would have produced acceptable results for a person that doesn't have the time and/or the curiosity to search more.
- Did the foreign recipients detect the error and didn't pass the mail on?
- Shame on us (the Greeks)
- No foreigner ever received a mail about Eric Grohe Miller?
- The Greek cyber-ghetto :P
- Do we have to blame the Spanish about it? (I think the original presentation that contains the mistake is spanish and there is a significant number [not significant enough though] of spanish sites after the 4th page of the search)
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100215
Today's Special Dish
Hi!
How y'all doing?
Recently I learnt how to cook the best meal ever and now I'm going to share it with the world!
The whole process takes less than 30'! :D
In order to prepare it you need the following ingredients:
Serve with San Michali Cheese (PDO) (google translate link)
Improvements (still untested):
elias a.k.a. diluted
How y'all doing?
Recently I learnt how to cook the best meal ever and now I'm going to share it with the world!
The whole process takes less than 30'! :D
In order to prepare it you need the following ingredients:
- Meat:
- Two pieces of pork tenderloin (assuming each piece is about 0.4kg)
- Spices:
- Freshly ground pepper
- Oregano
- Saffron
- Vegetables:
- 1 green pepper
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
- 1 potato (optional)
- Appliances:
- A standard stove (electric, gas, coal or whatever makes you happy)
- A Kuhn Rikon Hotpan
- Prepare the meat (clean it), chop the vegetables and prepare the spices
- Heat the Hotpan over medium-high flame until the pan is so hot that causes drips of water to evaporate instantaneously
- Add the tenderloin and let it sear it from the one side until it can be easily be removed using a fork (1-2')
- Turn it to the other side, add the spices and let that side sear using the same method described above
- Turn the piece over again and add spices also on that side
- Turn the stove off
- Add all the other ingredients
- Close the Hotpan and let it cook for 20'
Serve with San Michali Cheese (PDO) (google translate link)
Improvements (still untested):
- Pour 2-4 tablespoons of white wine after sautéing the meat
elias a.k.a. diluted
20100207
New pc
Hi!
Greetings people!
I upgraded my PC [supercharger]! It's been two-three weeks since I actually upgraded it, but now I got the chance to write about it.
I bought the following things:
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
Greetings people!
I upgraded my PC [supercharger]! It's been two-three weeks since I actually upgraded it, but now I got the chance to write about it.
I bought the following things:
- A Gigabyte X58A-UD7 (here's a more detailed description)
- A Core i7-920 (2.66GHz, LGA 1366)
- An OCZ Gold Low-Voltage 6GB DDR3-1600 RAM (PC3-12800) Kit
- An Intel Postville X25-V 40GB SSD
- A Nexus 1000Watt Power Supply
- NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT (1GB DDR3) [I can't remember the brand though]
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 (160GB SATA) [tell me the reason why this is the best hard disk ever]
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (320GB SATA)
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (320GB IDE)
- Western Digital Caviar Blue (500GB SATA)
- Samsung SH-S183L DVD-RW (SATA)
- NEC (Sony) Optiarc DDU1675A DVD (IDE)
- Razer DeathAdder Mouse
- Logitech NewTouch Keyboard 200
- Samsung P2350 TFT (that's sort of new actually, I bought it a week before buying the other stuff, knowing that I will buy the rest soon ;))
- Creative Live! Camera
- CSR based Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR, class, 1 100m range)
- Cambridge Soundworks 4 point surround FPS1600
- Chieftec Dragon case (black) [this is the best looking case ever. Important: it's the old version, without the transparent left cover]
Ta ta,
elias a.k.a. diluted
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