Hi!
Happy 10/11/12 13:14 everybody :D
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 (it is a little bit outdated, but I think you'll figure it out)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.
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