La Gaticueva

Dream of no-tranquility

2010-07-26T17:51:00.005-05:00

Not even half a moon ago, a had a weird dream:

I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset. There were not many people around, or I didn't pay enough attention to them.

The surf was very strong, crashing loudly against the sand and making a lot of foam only to quickly recede back and fuse with the next incoming wave.

Then I saw a shadow approaching me. A girl. She was with someone else, but he stayed back. Her voice was too familiar: "I have been looking for you all over. We need to talk...".

I did not turn my head to look at her, but calmly stood up instead.
She insisted: "Please... I need to talk to you...".

Slowly and quietly, but still not looking back at her, I said there was nothing to talk about. My eyes remained fixed at the sunset.

That wonderful sunset.

There is something special about the orange-red light at dusk... I have always wanted to take a closer look at it.

So I started walking towards the setting sun. It felt warm and inviting.

After a short while, I heard her shouting from the distance: "Wait! You can't swim... please... please stop!"

Ah! The irony put me in a such a good mood, I began to laugh.

And so I woke up, still laughing until I noticed it was raining. 3 A.M. and way too early to begin the workday... too bad, I wanted to know how that dream ended.

Photo © Chris Nottingham

Moral: Being human means that if you have to go, you might as well do it with a smile... or even a laugh.

Trinkets from the past

2009-09-07T12:11:00.006-05:00

So there I was, opening some boxes to set stuff aside for recycling or giving away, when I stumbled upon the remains of your watch. It wasn't functional, of course, but I still had carefully wrapped it in a plastic bag.

Many moons ago, you gave it to me hoping I could fix it but unfortunately, it didn't survive the intervention.

What to do? What to do now? I shopped around for two days until I found exactly the same model and gave it to you with an apology.

Yesterday, when the theme resurfaced, you seemed quite upset and annoyed:

"Why didn't you give it back to me after all these years?" - You asked, - "That watch was a gift from one of my best friends, the one who passed away long ago!"

I didn't know what to say at first, but the answer presented itself just as I began saying:

"... Because... that watch was all I had left from you".

Cats and Boxes

2009-05-12T22:47:00.008-05:00

Ever since they arrive to this world, cats form a strong bond with carton boxes.

It begins when their moms look for a secluded, dark and preferably warm place to give birth. Shortly after the newly-born kitties have opened their eyes, they start peeking at the world beyond the box but dare not leave it. However, as soon as they are strong enough, they venture into the unknown to satisfy their curiosity, but always returning to the well known safety of their box.

Even as adults, cats still enjoy playing and jumping into boxes whenever they can, even a humble paper bag will do.

This morning, as soon as I finished getting dressed up, I suddenly recalled I needed to bring an install CD to the office. Most of them are kept inside a small carton box placed on top of a cabinet.

Sassy and Mitzi, my beloved kitties, were taking a nap on my bed, comfortably rolled in my blanket. Their eyes closed, but their ears discreetly moving around to sense what else was going on.

As soon as I grabbed the box, Mitzi's ears became fixed on my position but she still didn't move. Gosh! Too many CD's to examine and I'm in a rush... ok, it will be faster if I just take them out and flip them like cards.

As soon as I placed the empty box on the bed, Mitzi opened her eyes, purred at me and stretched herself while placing her paws in it, claws fully deployed. Well, I didn't found what I was looking for, so it was time to put the CD's back into the box and... oh oh. Box is busy with kitty... or the other way around.

When I extended my hand to pick up the box, Mitzi purred again looking at me without any intention of letting go of it.

I smiled and gave her a quick scratch on her head. Very well Mitzi kitty, you can have the box even if you are too big for it.

Another gentle purr, and after she tried to fit as much of herself as she could into the box, she resumed her nap.

She seemed genuinely happy because I let her keep the box.

And my bloody camera wasn't charged or else I would have included a picture. Argh!!!

The so-called "Human nature"

2009-05-02T13:38:00.006-05:00

If we were like any other species on the planet, we would be fully integrated to our environment. Instead of transforming it to better suit our tastes and preferences, we would adjust to it like all the others do without falling into the specialisation fallacy, mind you, which of course is reserved for insects.

However, when we compare our directives and general behavior to a logic template, results often contradict any hope of common sense:

We pursuit that which retreats from us.
We love those who cannot love us back.
We long for what we don't have.
We take things for granted and don't fully appreciate them until they are gone.

I was never good at playing "games", those counterintuitive unwritten "rules" that often seem to be decisive at achieving the object of desire in question. Everybody and his dog seems to be aware of them.

Everybody else but me.

Instead, I opted for a more open nature... a strategy that has bitten me back more times than I can keep count of. As a prime example of stubborness on my own self, I still keep using that policy regardless of the ever increasing frustration brought by its eventual, almost fatallistically certain outcome.

Either I completely lack what others dare to define as "emotional intelligence", or in spite of external appearance, I do not belong to the local human race.

For all accounts, I was born here. So... misanthropy suddenly seems so attractive again.

Just before falling asleep

2009-04-28T19:47:00.011-05:00

Suddenly, the night sky felt empty.
None of its offerings were enough
to quiesce the presence of your absence.

I think of your name quite often,
but never dare to speak it
lest echo would be the sole answer
I receive.

Your essence remains in love
with the waves, the sand and the breeze:
A smile that flows forever.

Only your eyes could bring peace
and joy and fire and hope
to a forsaken old heart.

"Hello..." you said and smiled.
Then in silence I smiled back
wishing of being one with the sea.

Afternoon of solitude

2009-04-14T12:13:00.008-05:00

Funny.

Some consider spending an afternoon alone by yourself, curled-up on the sofa and doing nothing but watching TV and drinking beer to cope with hot weather pretty pathetic; on the contrary, others believe it's pure bliss.

The difference resides in choosing:

A - You chose to do it, or managed to do it in spite of other activities.

B - You've got nothing else to do.

Since the dawn of civilisation, it is a well-known fact that alcohol is the best thanatologist ever. Synapses begin firing up at random, nonsense becomes funny and you begin to laugh at anything and everything, even your present condition. In extreme dosages, your personality transforms and lets some of its darkest aspects loose in the wild.

Finally, the sweet stupor of numbness arrives. Drowsiness gives in to sleepiness in such a smooth transition you often cannot pinpoint the exact moment when it happens.

But there is a price to pay. Pain. You don't ever want to feel it again ever in your life... except you probably will because either the need to temporarily "deal with" (read "suppress") your problems becomes overwhelming once more, or as surprising as it might seem, you eventually forget how bad it was.

Oblivion is bliss simply because you stop becoming aware of your burdens.

And pretty much like your past, not only they won't go away.
They will accumulate and pile up.

So there is no real option but to endure them.

Maybe Nietzche will prove right to your advantage and you'll emerge stronger than before.

That is, if you first survive :)

I like to watch the stars

2009-04-06T22:02:00.009-05:00

At night, whenever possible...
just before going back to my apartment,
I like to watch the stars.

I watch in silence.

The cold breeze passes by, fast and indifferent as always.

They have been pretty much the same before I ever came here. Most of them will continue to be long after I'm gone.

A sense of Trascendence.

Ever since we became a sentient species and managed to overcome our natural fear for darkness and gaze at them with insatiable curiosity. Thousands of generations have come and gone... yet we keep doing it.

It's almost as if they were calling us.

Each time I look at them, I wonder about what kind of thoughts people before me have experienced... and why not, those who, perhaps by coincidence, have chosen to simultaneously do the same thing as I did.

I think of those whom I've met and still see.
Those whom I've met and will never see again.
Those whom I haven't met yet.
Those whom I'll never meet though we could become good friends.

I like to watch the stars
because they represent all the possibilities that were, all that were not or won't be... and all that might be and will be.

I like to watch the stars
because they make me think of you.

If only I had the means
I couldn't wait to go back to them.

Image credit: ESA / HST

Tired.

2009-03-31T22:27:00.003-06:00

Actors might change, but roles remain the same.

It's just the same with days: the calendar states they keep changing, yet they feel pretty similar at dusk.

Ideas and thoughts pop at every moment into my mind. They even shout out to the world, yet none are ever heard.

Time keeps running out.

Twilight

2009-03-26T00:00:00.005-06:00

Be at peace, dear reader: Nope, this post has absolutely nothing to do with that movie.

The best thing about twilight is that, for a moment, you don't know if it will get darker or lighter.

Please ponder the following:

Who is poorer? The guy who doesn't have anything to give to others, or the one who has his hands full because nobody wants to take what he is offering?

How big of a consolation is it to know you have left a permanent mark on other people's souls, even though the probability of seeing them again diminishes exponentially as time goes by?

Life goes on. There is no choice but to join the parade, wave and smile to everyone in spite of how incomplete you might feel. There are other possibilities ahead.

Lesson learned: Stay away from those who are ashamed of admitting they are having more fun with the toad instead of the prince.

Is it getting darker or lighter?

Only time will tell.

Stage 1: Complete!!!

2008-11-26T10:46:00.004-06:00

Well, some dreams must die so you can live on, but some others can be realised if you try hard enough.

Yesterday I went to pick up my Degree certificate and ID card. The quest I began many moons ago has been completed to stage one.

... Now onto stage two.

BTW, how do you like this hackintosh?

Feeling alive: Papalotl

2008-07-28T14:30:00.009-05:00

Dear Reader,

Maybe you are wondering why did I stop writing?

Well, there were not many actual reasons. But if I had to choose one... hmm, why not write instead about the reason I'm blogging again?

Yesterday I decided to take a rather long walk. On my way, I found a butterfly nursery. It's like a huge crystal house but airtight; humidity and temperature are slightly above normal to emulate a tropical environment complete with waterfall.

The nursery is home to at least 12 different species of exotic butterflies. One has to wonder the reason why they evolved in so many different colours even though, like many insects, their eyes only perceive ultraviolet light.

One steps into the nursery and carefully walk around the premises immersed in soothing music. The inhabitants seem totally unaware of the chaos and noise reigning outside as they merrily flip their wings, chase each other and dodge leaves and visitors with unequalled grace. They are too fast, so sooner or later one realises the futility of trying to take a picture with a cameraphone and opt instead to just watch them and smile.

Suddenly, I noticed a butterfly that was grabbing itself to a flower, but made no attempt to eat. I came in closer to have a better look at it when one of the guides saw me and said: "She's waiting for her wings to dry... you see, she just emerged from the cocoon this morning. As soon as that is done, she'll fly for the first time and will join her older friends".

Lo and behold, the not-so little one flipped its wings a couple times as if she were trying to assess their strenght, flashing a beautiful dark blue gradient on the upper surface which makes for a rather dramatic contrast compared to the apparently dull lower surface (the one you see with the wings folded). Without wanting to wait anymore, she flew for the first time and quickly joined the chasing game of her older brothers and sisters.

That day was the first one in the adult life of that butterfly. The thought affected me more than I can relate in words, but I'll say this: Welcome to the world, papalotl. May you fly effortlessly and share your beauty with us for many days.

And thank you for making me feel alive.

Should I be surprised?

2008-03-05T17:05:00.006-06:00

Given recent events in my life... not that much, really.

Your Score: Dr. Gregory House

50% Eccentricity, 60% Confidence, 30% Kindness

Congratulations, you're the man himself, Dr. Gregory House! You're quite strange, and usually do your own thing regardless of what anyone else thinks. This is partially because a person with an ego as large as yours could not care less what anyone else thinks or feels about anything. Unless, of course, they're your patient and they're dying--but only if they're dying of something interesting! You're a definite asshole to most other people, but at least you know how to be one in style, with an awesome wit, comfortable sneakers, and a never ending variety of facial expressions.

Link: The House, MD Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

27 dresses

2008-02-18T17:32:00.005-06:00

It's hardly a secret I'm a big fan of romantic comedies.
"27 dresses", although a bit formulaic, was a very good movie on its own. But I want to comment on it because of the way it handles three very interesting messages. If you haven't seen it, please be forewarned there are spoilers ahead.

* It's alright to help others, as long as you don't neglect yourself.
The main character casually found she had a talent to help brides in the biggest day of their lives. But she didn't make it into her career. Instead, it became an obsession about having a future with the idealised image of her boss. She thought she was in love with him but never told nor hinted him about it.
Inrequited love is tempting and romantic, but in the end it always ends up as a recipe for disaster and misery. Sometimes it's very hard not to fall for it, but please! please remember never to let it thrive so much, it will feed on your own lifeforce.

* Don't spend too much time in idealisation. While reality can be more difficult to deal with, it is also much more rewarding.
What we call "Reality" is just a mental construct built of many different subjectivities to help us (hopefully) understand what is going on around us.
In this context, asking someone not to idealise things or persons sounds like an oxymoron but my intent is to make a difference between the act of collecting subjectivities to create a model and to consciously or subconsciously filtering them to collate something without any apparent flaws.
The main character spent her time wallowing and daydreaming about her object of affection without taking the chance to see how things would actually work. And this takes us to...

* Risks are always part of the game. It's alright though, you either take them or else wonder "what if..." forever.
The main character was in love with her boss, but never had the gut to make him aware of the fact. Sounds familiar?
We all hate it when we decide to take a risk and everything turns belly-side up; sooner or later in life, we've all had this feeling and it sucks bigtime.
However, we also forget the fact that by taking risk, we are also making a choice: See what's up for real once and for all.
And that's what she eventually did. She took a risk and told everything to the boss, who became surprised and even tried to reciprocate by kissing her... only it didn't work. The real version of the boss came out as flat compared to his idealised version, which honestly is always the expected outcome.
Only after the fantasy was over, the main character was capable of reassessing her situation and realise there was a new possibility around that ought to be explored further.

- Conclusions
Well, it's in human nature to idealise. Just don't do it at the expense of avoiding risk. Same with natural talents: if you're not making a living out of them, don't let them become an obsession.

Now, if only I listened to my own advice...

Why do Mobulas jump?

2008-02-12T14:56:00.002-06:00

I'm back with mixed feelings from my trip to Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico.

For sure, there are things I wish they never happened... but as I said yesterday over the phone to someone I still deeply care for, time may eventually transform all sad memories into good ones. Changing the past is impossible, but there might still be some chance for learning.

While I wait and see if this is true, I intend this post to be only about one of many good memories from my first day there.

* Scenario: The Baja California Peninsula

I won't burden you with the details, which you can check here. For now, I'm concentrating on the southernmost part of the peninsula.

Imagine a sandy desert chaparral complete with vultures, eagles, foxes, bats and hares; mountain chains are common but spaced and the weather is surprisingly mild (at least during the ongoing season). This desert is surrounded by the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Sea to the east, west and south; intringuingly, it´s not as humid as other places I have visited further up north.

Most beaches are covered with little pebbles more than sand; combine that with strong winds and it is easy to figure out sea waves are not for the inexperienced.

In spite of all this, I am left with a sense of awe.

* Scenario: Almost any beach

Go to a beach on any morning or late afternoon, sit down and wait for a few minutes. You'll see Mobulas jumping out of the sea and back into it, flipping their wings and sometimes even making somersaults as they try to reach for the sky. Sometimes it's just one, at others there are three or more jumping in succesion. Locals call them by the uninspiring names of "Cubanas" or "Tortillas".

First question in mind: Why do they do this?

The short answer: Nobody knows.

Maybe they are getting themselves rid of parasites... or perhaps they are just happy to be alive (compared to other fish, they have very large and complex brains).

Without professional equipment and a good deal of luck, it's quite difficult to capture their exploits on camera. So I'll direct you instead to this site which contains both excellent images and story.

More posts to follow as soon as I can keep recalling memories without sorrow.

Check this out:

A Darth Vader Piñata

2008-01-25T20:20:00.001-06:00

Take a look:

I love this place =)

Theora

2007-12-15T15:16:00.001-06:00

Before I go to sleep, I must tell the world I have a new 'puter.
More to follow... as soon as I can get some sleep, that is!

Everybody is worth something.

2007-11-21T11:54:00.001-06:00

... even when dead :)

Raw materials are no longer easy to come by. Click on the link for a free appraisal today!!!

$4725.00

Concept bike from Yamaha

2007-11-13T17:24:00.001-06:00

Don't you wish big companies would put some of their concept vehicles into production?

This lovely mechanical creature is called the "Tesseract". It sports not two, but four wheels for additional stability and two engines: one for conventional fossil fuel while the other is electric. Rumour has it they are coordinated for extra-low ecological impact with improved performance pretty much like hybrid cars.

So I keep pondering two things:
* What do we need Sci Fi for when we've got Japan?
* Will it transform into an Autobot or a Decepticon?

Code Injection

2007-11-13T17:18:00.001-06:00

Dear Reader:

Never underestimate the power of Code Injection:

This is one of the brightest yet geekiest jokes I've seen in years!

Always, always check your facts...

2007-11-07T17:32:00.001-06:00

... or "How not to let your ego ruin your class".

Dear Reader:

Some time ago I took a course on computer security. It's a hot topic and one can only hope to remain up to date with the latest developments.

There were many things I knew, many others I thought I did but nevertheless ended up having a better grasp of, and many many more of which I didn't even think about.

Some instructors were better than others. However, there was one who shall rename nameless for now and whom I thought would end up among the best.
Alas, this was not the case after all; now it's a good time to tell you why.

So there we were, instructor and students, studying the history of operating systems in general and their vulnerabilities. Although the instructor admitted he didn't have a background on computer science (he's a chemistry major from the early 60's), he relies a lot on his personal experience on the good old days.

Now, first hand experience is always pretty valuable... Except when paired with a huge ego. If that unfortunate mix happens, you end up with a class full of anecdotes that makes you think of The Wonder Years.

Anyway, he began to talk about early Unix systems and casually mentioned Xenix. Maybe that word sounds like gibberish to you, dear Reader, and you would be quite correct to assume its current significance is almost nil were it not for a funny fact:

For a while, Xenix was a Unix-like operating system fully supported by Microsoft and geared towards enterprise computing.

Sources:

* My own memory. Doh!
While I am younger than the instructor, due the my early initiation into computer science and folklore encouraged by two wonderful parents, I had access to many then-current product catalogs for software and hardware. One of them is the 1984 edition of the Radio Shack's catalog which I still have in my possession. Turn to the section where the TRS-80 Model 16 business computer is announced and you'll see Xenix as an option:

-- catalog image to be placed here --

* The almighty Wikipedia.

Check this article for further info.

Image source: Wikipedia

I mentioned this unusual fact to the instructor, but he quickly dismissed it as utter and totally false rubbish.

Two different sources for my fact: One of them a still vivid memory from 22 years ago which could be checked rather easily. Obviously, one of us was mistaken. Guess who it was:)

Anyway, as I was deciding on the most concise and clear way to point out this error to the instructor, a second thought began to emerge:

I couldn't win.

If I managed to point out the mistake to the instructor, he would be discredited in front of the whole class and his ego would not take it lightly. A Pyrrhic victory.

If I remained silent, honour would not be satisfied and the instructor would go on thinking he is right.

So what did I do instead? To whom did I really want to show the truth?

I fetched the Wikipedia article on Xenix on my PDA and began to discreetly pass it around the class. They all smiled to me after reading it :)

Something has to be said about an instructor whose ego won't let them accept new perspectives and corrections to his facts. But on that day two things happened. First, he made me completely lose all confidence on his lecture and the course in general. Second, I learned to focus my efforts on those who would be receptive -- maybe lose a battle, but always looking towards victory in war.

Life went on and grades were awarded; the kind that cannot be altered because of a trivia dispute.

So now the time has come:

Dear Dr. Guillermo Mallén, regardless of how bright you are, please check your facts first and read the bloody label on the 5.25" diskette.

Felines everywhere

2007-11-01T15:05:00.001-06:00

Dear Reader:

Have you noticed the recent abundance of feline-related stuff on the web?
In this post, I'll give you 5 examples.

(1) For starters, check out Hallmarks of felinity. This comic is a subset of 9 Chickwood lane by Brooke McEldowney and features Solange, a siamese cat who perfectly encompasses the general feline attitude towards life and humans.
If you share your vital space with cats (and even if you don't, but have some acquaintance who does), I'm sure you'll empathise with more than one of the situations portrayed there.

(2) Next, we pay a visit to LOLCAT, also known as "kitty pidgin".
This is a meme which consists of captioning a picture of a cat (preferably in an unusual pose) with a catchphrase using incorrect but persistently coherent grammar and spelling akin to Internet slang or l33tsp34k:

Image credit: Wikipedia

You can see more examples here and here.

(3) In a weird twist of fate, said catchphrases and grammar have spawned a programming language. For more information about it, please click here.
Who knows... maybe you'll get to see reference books like this one:

Image credit: Marco van Hylckama Vlieg

(4) Still unimpressed? Try the LOLCAT Bible, an ongoing translation effort:

Mai teh blessigs of teh Ceiling Cat b pwn u, lol!

(5) Last, but not least, a short animation featuring the tricks cats resort to when their human staff do not respond quickly enough to their will:

Image credit: Simon Tofield

Fun times =)

What kind of nerd are you?

2007-09-04T10:36:00.002-05:00

I personally prefer the term "geek" to "nerd" because the former implies a natural ken or knack to do something many others find uninteresting or exceedingly difficult, while the latter not only is a little derogatory but also implies certain clumsiness.

Anyway, let's see how you do on the Nerd Test, v.2.0:

I'm back...

2007-09-03T16:32:00.001-05:00

... and so are the haikus:

Cordless powertool,
Gorgeous eyes fixed on target:
Licensed to drill!

Dedicated to this girl.

I'm out of excuses...

2007-05-28T14:10:00.001-05:00

... but not of geek jokes :)

Imagine, if you will, the events occurred during World War II from the perspective of online gamers (or G4m3rsp34k):

> *Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
> *Eisenhower has joined the game.*
> *paTTon has joined the game.*
> *Churchill has joined the game.*
> *benny-tow has joined the game.*
> *T0J0 has joined the game.*
> *Roosevelt has joined the game.*
> *Stalin has joined the game.*
> *deGaulle has joined the game.*
> Roosevelt: hey sup
> T0J0: y0
> Stalin: hi
> Churchill: hi
> Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
> paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
> T0JO: lol
> Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
> benny-tow: haha america sux
> Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me
> Stalin: i dont fight u, cool?
> Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
> Stalin: cool
> deGaulle: #### Hitler rushed some1 help
> Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
> Roosevelt: i dont got crap to help, sry
> Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
> Roosevelt: get antiair guns
> Churchill: i cant afford them
> benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
> paTTon: stfu
> Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
> deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
> Eisenhower: i cant do sh1t til rosevelt
> Eisenhower: gives me an army
> paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
> Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
> deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
> *deGaulle has left the game.*
> Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
> benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
> benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
> Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
> T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
> Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags
> Roosevelt: im gunna kick ur asses
> T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
> Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
> Hitler[AoE]: wtf
> Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now
> Hitler[AoE]: u got a huge fockin army
> Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
> Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
> Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
> T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side
> T0J0: of the world retard
> Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
> Stalin: u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
> Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
> benny-tow: haha
> benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa
> benny-tow: im gonna need help in italy soon
> benny-tow: sum1
> T0J0: o sh1t i cant help u i got my hands full
> Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
> Roosevelt: yah thats right biznitch im comin for ya
> Stalin: church help me
> Churchill: like u helped me before?
> Churchill: sure ill just sit here
> Stalin: dont be an arss
> Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
> Eisenhower: LOL
> benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
> Hitler: o man ur focked
> paTTon: oh what now biotch
> Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
> *benny-tow has been eliminated.*
> benny-tow: lame
> Roosevelt: gj patton
> paTTon: thnx
> Hitler[AoE]: eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
> Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
> Eisenhower: Nuts!
> benny~tow: wtf that mean?
> Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
> paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun
> paTTon: c0cksocker
> Stalin: rofl
> T0J0: HAHAHHAA
> Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
> Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
> *Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
> benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
> Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
> Stalin: OMG LMAO!
> Hitler[AoE]: i didnt click there omg this game blows
> *Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
> paTTon: hahahhah
> T0J0: my teammates are n00bs
> benny~tow: shut up noob
> Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
> paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
> Eisenhower: yah me too
> T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right
> T0J0: u dont got no ships lololol
> Eisenhower: fock u
> paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
> Stalin: go to hell lol
> paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
> Eisenhower: yah this is gay
> *Roosevelt has left the game.*
> Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
> Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
> *tru_m4n has joined the game.*
> tru_m4n: hi all
> T0J0: hey
> Stalin: sup
> Churchill: hi
> tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
> tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY SH!T I GOT NUKES
> Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
> tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
> Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
> T0J0: wtf is nukes?
> T0J0: holy sh!t holysh!t hoylshti!!!111
> *T0J0 has been eliminated.*
> *The Allied team has won the game!*
> Eisenhower: awesome!
> Churchill: gg noobs no re
> T0J0: thats bullsh!t u fockin suck
> *T0J0 has left the game.*
> *Eisenhower has left the game.*
> Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team
> Stalin: u guys didnt help me
> Stalin: for sh!t
> Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help
> Churchill: neway dumbarss
> tru_m4n: l8r all
> benny~tow: bye
> Churchill: l8r
> Stalin: fock u all
> tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
> *tru_m4n has left the game.*
> benny~tow: lololol u commie
> Churchill: ROFL
> Churchill: bye commie
> *Churchill has left the game.*
> *benny~tow has left the game.*
> Stalin: i hate u all fags
> *Stalin has left the game.*
> paTTon: lol no1 is left
> paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
> paTTon: o sh!t!
> *paTTon has been eliminated.*
> *paTTon has left the game.*

So su mi

2007-05-15T15:54:00.001-05:00

Back to the haikus:

Ain't she lovely in blue?

As blue as the sky
was her dress: just like a dream
that goes forever.

To boldly merchandise...

2007-05-02T12:07:00.001-05:00

Quick post while I think about a good excuse for not blogging anything during the last months or so:

Hex numbers at CafePress.com

Never underestimate the power of m4d s1lkscr33n1ng sk1LLz!!!

Having problems with Opera Mini?

2007-03-07T16:44:00.002-06:00

Thanks to a message found by my dear friend Bytelord, I finally made Opera Mini work on my Palm TX. Here's how:

* http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=237551

Why it does not work as it should on the first run though, I do not know.

Yet another one

2007-02-14T13:09:00.001-06:00

Dear reader,

I hope I am not bothering you with this creative surge...
but I cannot help it! Blame (or thank) the devil if you wish ;)

New Haiku, new girl:

Hair of fire, gentle eyes.
Between Passion and Candor
which one would you choose?

Another Haiku

2007-02-14T12:55:00.001-06:00

Dedicated to this girl from the Flickr group "Geek girls are sexy":

Time stops and eyes close
visions of purple and joy:
The shine of your smile.

More clips from elsewhere on the net

2007-02-12T12:15:00.001-06:00

* Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules. Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.

* If I had only one day left to live, I would live it in my statistics class: it would seem so much longer.

If Klingons were programmers

2007-02-09T14:22:00.001-06:00

An oldie but goodie:

12) "Specifications are for the weak and timid!"

11) "This machine is a piece of GAGH! I need dual Core processors if I am to do battle with this code!"

10) "You cannot really appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the original Klingon."

9) "Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!"

8) "What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'. Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake."

7) "Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' - they have 'arguments' -- and they ALWAYS WIN THEM."

6) "Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak."

5) "I have challenged the entire quality assurance team to a Bat-Leth contest. They will not concern us again."

4) "A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code!"

3) "By filing this SPR you have challenged the honor of my family. Prepare to die!"

2) "You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!"

1) "Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!"

Till death do us apart

2007-02-07T10:05:00.001-06:00

So I was wondering if this year will be like others and I'll be wearing black on St. Valentine's day as a way to protest for the outrageous consumerism that pervades our time (and my everlasting status as a singleton too), when I ran across this picture:

This couple was buried about 5 to 6 thousand years ago in Mantova, Italy during the neolithic period.

Suddenly, death is no longer the ultimate boundary.

Credit goes to Elena Menotti (Mantova, Italy) and Enrico Pajello (Reuters).

A haiku for an unknown girl

2007-02-01T17:30:00.001-06:00

Regarding this picture:

Among snow and ice
together raise gaze and smile:
warmth for soul and heart.

Quasi-lucid dreaming: A field test

2007-02-01T15:06:00.001-06:00

I one of those people who prefer to stay up until the wee hours of the morning and wake up only when my internal clock tells me to do so (which hopefully, won't take less than 8 hours after my last glimpse of consciousness).

Then again, this is not acceptable during workdays for I would end up showing up late at the office. Thus, I end up shifting between being half awake and half asleep for about 30 minutes before the voices command me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get up already.

A couple weeks ago, I experienced what could almost be called lucid dreaming.

It was just another morning, I heard the alarm clock ringing so I extended my hand to turn it off. A couple seconds of stretching and finally got up. I looked around and noticed something funny: the TV was on. Aack! Surely I left it on and it's been eating very expensive electricity since last night.

But wait! Something is not right.

Ok, the colours I'm watching have a yellowish tint... that's weird... but now that I think about it, that's not my TV. Furthermore, who on this world had the "idea" to place it sideways???

My kitties looked at me with some curiosity, probably wondering why it took yours truly so long to finally snap.

Then it slowly came to me, almost as a whisper without a voice: You are dreaming, and you are aware of it.

I began laughing, grasping at the thought. Things began to transform around me: The TV turned itself off and morphed into my real TV; the yellowish tint faded away and light around began to darken.

Finally, I heard myself laughing and opened my eyes. It was still dark, but just in time to get up and begin the daily ritual.

Things to remember: When you are dreaming, look for little inconsistences in the scene. Maybe you'll realise it's only a dream and will have the chance to play with it to your heart's whim.

So say we all!!!

2007-01-29T10:39:00.001-06:00

As always, dear reader, it's time for your semi-monthly update:

* Family reunion
I spent new year's eve visiting mom and sister. It was very good to see them again :)
Funny, but I cannot remember a time when we were in better terms than we are now.
We went to Santo Domingo (a wonderful Cathedral from the late 1700's) and Monte Albán (an archaeological site as large as Teotihuacán, but built atop an artificially levelled mountain).
Take a look of my pictures at flickr and let me know what you think.

* The Unnas have left for Hispania Terra.
I am very, very happy! Things should start to change for the better for them. Their kids will have a very easy time readjusting to their new environment where, as Bruno has accurately pointed out, "River" means the actual thing instead of a street's name.

Feelings and thoughts accumulate to the point words are not enough to describe them. But at the moment, these few are very clear: Am I going to lose my tolerance for kids in close proximity? Will I stop wondering about having kids of my own now that I won't be interacting with my friends' that often?

For the time being, skype will have to suffice.

* Reestablishing relationships with old friends.
Last saturday I located one of the oldest friends I have. We met each other back on high school, and started making drawings to kill boredom and laugh at the world in general. He's currently a painter/writer and remains as crazy as ever, and almost by a coincidence, he was to celebrate his 36th birthday on sunday.
Thus, the partying ensued.

Oy... my head. Hard liquor first. Beer after that.

New directive in life: Never let friends (both old an new) drift away.

BSG: Springfield

2006-12-13T11:17:00.001-06:00

I laughed to exhaustion today because of this:

http://community.livejournal.com/pantsketch/99256.html

What can I say? I'm just a big fan of the series.

A recap of past events

2006-12-13T10:28:00.001-06:00

So it is already december. I cannot complain, this has been a very good year overall.

Looking back into my recent past, several pending personal milestones were finally reached. The most important is, without doubt, my engineering certification.

Time waits for no one. I had very little of it to prepare my written work, and quite frankly, I still feel unsatisfied by its quality; but even though it didn't fully address my area of expertise (assuming geekness can be classified as such), it allowed me to make some interesting although somewhat late discoveries:

Despite all the pressures Layers 9 and 10 (that would be the financial and political layers, respectively) exert on the field of software development, this discipline has departed from its modest artesanal algorithmic roots and has flourished into a more manageable and predictable process. There are many different approaches, each one suitable to a specific set of conditions. Some are too rigid while others are extremely permissible, but many recognise real needs to deliver quantisable results on time and manage risk and disaster when it is unpractical to avoid them.

Who knows... maybe I'll focus on those subjects from now on.

In the meantime...

2006-11-24T13:21:00.002-06:00

Geek humour!

www.msfirefox.com is a very good fake site criticizing the new IE7. Run and check it out!

Veektory!!!

2006-11-24T13:08:00.001-06:00

On October 26th, 2006 I finally achieved a long sought dream.

The first big milestone on my self-reengineering has been reached.
I am now an engineer. Yay me!

In Zen philosophy, the journey is as important as arriving to the destination. 10 years in the making, I involuntarily took the longest possible way.

A richer description of the events before, during and after I defended my dissertation will follow soon. But the first thing I wanted to do is to give thanks to all my friends, who in a way or the other helped me to accomplish what I almost thought to be no longer possible.

Delivered!

2006-10-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

Updates since last time:

* Finished writing my dissertation!
On Sept. 01st I was interviewed by the review board and assigned to design a secure intranet in one month. With help from my friend Igor (who was coaching me as well as providing proofreading), I finished writing it at 03:00 AM on monday and handed it over to the board on the same day.
Though I am not very satisfied with it, I also must confess I finally got the taste for systems design methodology. Things have changed for good since my last experiences in application programming... most likely for good.
The dissertation will have to be defended by the end of this month, so methinks I shall start working on the presentation this week and head directly to PresentationZen.com.

I'm tired of boring and dull powerpoint sessions, so the least I can do is to improve upon those terrible (and most importantly, forgettable) experiences to attract the favour of my examiners.

* My friend Bruno is leaving for Spain.
He's finally found what seems to be his dreamjob, but like many talented people, he and his family have to relocate to the other side of the great-blue-pond.
Damn, I'm going to miss him, but surely this won't be the last time we hear from him.
The godspeed is on thursday.

Now... something to cheer you up.
Sci fi art!!!
You will probably recognise some of this paintings. They are used for Sci Fi book covers by most publishing houses. Although they are sometimes totally unrelated to the plot in it, they remain inspirational and intriguing.

Tales of a PDA geek

2006-08-04T09:41:00.001-05:00

It's been almost 4 months since I switched from my Zire 72 to a new Palm T|X.

The T|X does not have a camera nor a microphone (although if you feel bold and geeky, you can retrofit one at the risk of kissing your warranty goodbye). But there are new features that more than compensate for them:

- More RAM, Flash based: your data does not die when the battery does.
- Wifi: includes WEP/WPA with increased range.
- 320x480 touchscreen: you can choose between (normal) portrait or landscape modes.

This is really a geek's dream come true! But to make your experience a more enjoyable one, I suggest you download and install the following list of applications. Most are free, others are fully-functional shareware:

* NVBackup from Alex Pruss software.

This free utility will copy the whole contents of your PDA to a SDCard (including the utility itself). Why use it instead of relying on the good old HotSync method, you ask?
Well, four reasons come to mind:
a) HotSync requires access to your host computer.
b) It is most likely you'll have to re-enter the activation codes for most of your paid software. This is not necessary with NVBackup.
c) Unattended and scheduled operation.
d) To restore your backup, you just reinsert the SDcard into the PDA, then run the utility which will be readily available (remember it copied itself to the card).

When you are downloading and trying lots of new software like I do, you are increasing the chance for a soft (or sometimes even a hard) reset. NVBackup provides you with a fresh image of your last known-working configuration.

* FileZ from NoSleep.

FileZ is a free file manipulation program. Move, copy, rename and delete files in your built-in RAM or a SDCard. Strange Palm didn't include something like this in the first place.

* MessageEase from Exideas

Free utility that replaces your standard on-screen keyboard with another specially tailored for fast input in a small area. You'll wish you had something similar for your desktop computer!

Note: This utility is compatible with mySkin. Not only can you access the MessageEase keyboard layouts, you can merge them with other components (the statusbar, for example).

That is all for now. More ideas to come.

The Rotorbike

2006-08-02T12:03:00.001-05:00

Although I'm not a connoisseur of high speed motorcycles, I feel obligued to share this picture with you:

A custom motorbike with an 8 cylinder power plant arranged in radial fashion that reminds me a lot of propeller engines for airplanes. Unfortunately, I don't have the specs for this machine.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Leeching WiFi from your neighbor's AP?

2006-07-31T10:20:00.001-05:00

While OEMs have begun to address the security issues implied by improper default settings on many wireless products (specially residential routers/wifi APs), one still can locate several left wide open to anyone who happens to look for them.

The often addressed perspective is that of someone's bandwidth being shared (read "stolen") by unknown people. However, most of the wardrivers take care not to consume too much of it, lest the real owner notices severe lag and finally decides to learn about properly securing his AP.

Another implies a certain amount of paranoia: your ip could be used for criminal activities, and if/when the cops come asking questions, it is said owner who might have to answer to them.

However, consider a third scenario: The Honeypot of Doom(tm).

Someone installs an open AP and logs all the traffic that passes through it for several weeks. As you are well aware, most, but not all sensitive communications are encrypted. Mine the resulting data and maybe you'll stomp across something "interesting".

Here's a proof of concept, although with a twisted and very nice touch of humour:

http://www.ex-parrot.com/~pete/upside-down-ternet.html

This guy divided his local network in two segments. One goes straightforwardly in and out of his AP while the other is diverted to a proxy server. On the latter, images are turned upside-down or blurred on the fly before being relayed to the unsuspecting freeloader.

Another nice touch would be to submit all text to a ROT-13 transform creating gibberish everywhere.

So, next time you happen to find an open AP, think twice before transmitting any sensitive or personal information over it.

The day of the updates

2006-06-28T09:19:00.001-05:00

Ph34r!!!

A long time ago and after having an interesting conversation with my dear friend Bruno, I decided to join the bandwagon and start writing a Blog like everybody else seems to be doing. Of course, things didn't exactly work out as expected: priorities change and shuffle, any available time is never enough.

However, after writing my own newspaper column for almost 8 years it becomes increasingly difficult to tame the desire to communicate. So why offer any resistance?

First things first:

- I passed my certification and revalidation test. YAY!!!

It took me almost 2 weeks reviewing all the things I was supposed to learn back in college. Several years ago it would have been an overwhelming task, but the almighty Wikipedia came to the rescue!
Some of the most complex subjects I had to study were explained in a simple, yet effective way. You can go as deep as you want on any of them so easily, that staying on focus can become a problem. Last time I felt that way was back in 1994; you know, back when the WWW was steadily gaining momentum and presence of mind among the populace and search engines were about to appear.

Another interesting phenomenon: The process of study itself seems to streamline very old memories and bring them back again to the conscious mind. Not only that, it also seems easier to establish firmer and more abundant links between new and old knowledge. My neocortex experienced a fsck (in the good sense) and full-defrag at the same time :)

The exam itself lasted 12 hours divided among 3 periods: 2 on friday and one on saturday. Was it a matter of endurance, tenacity, ingenuity? I am not sure. But one thing is certain: I didn't notice how stressed I was until it was over.
Naïvely, after it was done I went to buy some groceries and then drove back home for lunch. Since I was feeling a little sleepy, I decided to postpone lunch if favour of a nap. Just a few minutes, I thought.

When I woke up, it was mid-day sunday. My kitties were puzzled, staring at me and deciding on what to do with my mortal remains had I passed away. But when I reached for them, they felt relieved and their thoughts switched to more important matters (Food, of course).

All that happened in May.

Only last week I got the results and I still can't believe it. I knew I couldn't have failed the exam, but also wasn't entirely sure if I obtained the minimum score required to go on to the next stage.

What happens next?

I must schedule an interview with the jury and agree on a subject that will become my oral exam. Damn, I'm nervous but can't stop right now after all the effort it took me to get to this point.

Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to update this blog more frequently. Stay tuned.

I knew these guys came from somewhere else!

2006-02-22T16:20:00.001-06:00

"Travel enlightens" said the famed venetian explorer Marco Polo.

But these days, one can find interesting trivia even around the most unsuspected places. Let me tell you why:

Way back in the day, the local TV conglomerate used to broadcast short animated films aimed to the children at 19:00. After telling a story, they bidded them to bed before programs aimed for adults began. If I remember correctly, that segment was called "La familia Telerín" and received sponsorship from several companies, the latest being Telmex.

Funny thing, today I discovered the concept began, of all places, in the Deutsche Demokratic Republik on 1958-10-08 in the show "Sandmännchen" (The little sandman). which in turn originated on radio.

Read more about it here.

Supa' Bowl, man

2006-02-07T12:05:00.001-06:00

Hmm, guess we're having trouble keeping up with the blog.

Ok, some updates since last time.

The Wifi card for my Z72 finally came, but I have mixed feelings towards it. While it's certainly easy to config, it turned out to be a little short in range... but above all, it is a real battery hog!

The software is a little buggy too. Sometimes I have to warm boot the PDA in order to make it recognise the Wifi card. But I think I can live with that for a while.

Our CEO wants to host a screening session about the SuperBowl XL commercials for our Creative, Design and Production departments. That means the local geek (yours truly) has to roam the web figuring out crazy ways to download them all.

Funny, I thought it would be an easy job. Sometimes it really was, but others the media provider made everything it could to make it almost impossible to obtain the original video file: embedding it within a flash interface, streaming it everytime I wanted to see it (damn the caches!)... why? WHY???

But the best trick so far is to block the video altogether based on the geographical location of the incoming IP address.

If they wish only a small percentage of the total population to see it, why publish it on the web in the first place?

Ok, enough ranting.

Well, after doing some more warwalking and wardriving with my PDA, I now have a better idea about the distribution and availability of Wifi networks. Most of them are visible, but only 1 out of every 20 is open. Not exactly ideal, but better than I originally expected.

For all your PalmOS warwalking needs, I fully recommend you a nifty program called "NetChaser", by Bits'n Bolts. But since the battery will be quickly depleted, I also think you better get a dc-dc Car to PDA power adapter/charger like those offered by Belkin.

Time is running out to submit my application for a cert. exam. Better hurry up with that.

New year: new toys and 2 wifi advices

2006-01-11T15:18:00.001-06:00

So the transition to the new year went smoothly and without glitches.
And it wasn't as bad as I thought :)

I have been playing with my long-awaited SDIO wifi card and my Palm PDA. Oh boy! It's a mixed surprise (as in "it was to be expected" and "surely people know better") to find out how many open wireless networks are out there!

The funniest part is that most DSL modems being deployed by the biggest provider in the area come with wireless capabilities turned OFF by default. Someone had to turn them on and allow them to broadcast their SSID without encryption, yes?

Well, given the proper stimulus, people might learn over time. But in the meantime, all I have to do is to grab my fully-recharged PDA and scan around. There are two tiny bits of information I would like to share though:

- Grab a list of freely accesible and geographically-close DNS servers. For some reason, the default DNS address received via DHCP does not work.

- Do you make extensive reference to the Wikipedia (like yours truly does)?
Create a bookmark with the following address. It will greatly simplify your search effort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/

I'm still compiling a list of free wifi applications, but among them I want to include a VNC viewer, a SSH tunneler and an IM client. The biggest challenge will be to fit them all in the 32 Mb of my PDA. Ack, why couldn't the designers of the device include 2 SD expansion slots?

In other news, the second part of the new Battlestar Galactica's series season 2 has begun. One must make sure the -other- addicts get their fix soon too ;)

Once a geek, always a geek

2005-12-23T11:36:00.001-06:00

It is a well known fact geeks (such as yours truly) can't easily stop being geeks. "Professional deformation" others say, but one must admit that so many hours invested in learning how things work just for the fun of it do have a profound impact on personal traits and habits.

For a while, I have been enjoying watching video recordings from several sources on my TV, which is also used as a secondary display for my computer. This arrangement makes it possible for me to decode almost the whole plethora of formats available. But there is a drawback: the noise emanating from the fans that prevent my computer and associated storage units from overheating and burning are annoying as heck. I also fear they might impair my hearing on the long run, so obviously something has to be made about this situation.

Where I live, it's not easy to find liquid cooling systems. Also, I don't have the time to transcode all that material to standard DVD (the media is still unreliable and the selection and recording process is very time consuming too). What a geek's got to do then?

Well, several manufacturers are now offering HDD cases with built-in decoders and video ports. Get one, add your hard disc filled with DiVX, XviD, Mp3 and many more files, connect it to your TV and you're set!

Only problem is, they are also rare around my neck of woods. Ack!!! Curse this company-driven market.

But while I wait for my decoder HDD case to arrive, I found another solution: a dvd-player/home theater set which also plays many kinds of mpeg-4 video. It's not as flexible as the aforementioned option, but at least I think I can set aside some time to transcode everything I have to DivX (their decoder is free, and the encoder license is quite affordable). Thanks to their advanced compression format, I can make a whole season of Stargate SG-1 fit within a DVD-R.

Let's take a look at the steps I took on this geek-x-periment:

1 - Select DVD/HTS device.

After shopping around, I settled for the Philips HTS3300. You can take a look at it here. There are several sub-versions depending upon where you live (RCA or SCART connectors at the back, for example). But I'll give you a short list of reasons why I chose it:

* Decodes and displays DivX versions 3 thru 6. Be forewarned though that video files encoded using QT (quarter pixel) or GMC (Global motion compensation) are not supported.

* Built in support for separate subtitle files.

* Plays and converts NTSC or PAL DVDs to the appropiate format for your TV.

* It's Region-free hackable.

* Even though the manual states only DVD+R(W)s can be used, it also plays DVD-R(w)s.

* Built-in Radio tuner.

* AUX-in input. Hey! I can use it as an amplifier for my synths too!

2 - Installation.

This HTS comes with 5 little speakers, a subwoofer and plenty of wiring with Easy-Fit color-coded connectors at the end so you can plug-in each speaker without confusion. I suggest you to obtain a kit of 5 speaker mounts though. Also, only the frontal channel speaker is magnetically shielded (don't put the others to close to your CRT TV or you'll end up creating color spots on the screen).

After installing the speakers and routing the wires appropiately, plug the power cord into an AC outlet and connect the TV selecting the appropiate composite video input (Component progressive video must be enabled manually, but that's piece of cake). Cross your fingers and turn power On.

3 - Configuration.

Now is when the geek side of the force shows up!!!

Make the unit multi-region capable:
Grab the remote control, push [OPEN] and wait for the disc tray to open, then push [9] [9] [9] [9] [0]. Cycle power and you're done!

Upgrade the firmware:
Click here and decompress the file on your desktop. Read the PDF instructions first!!! Not all units require a firmware upgrade.
If you decide to continue, burn a CD with the .BIN file (single session disc-at-once), insert it on your DVD-player and press PLAY. The rest is automatic and the unit will shut off automatically at the end of the process.

Select the appropiate color signal conversion:
Depending upon where you live, you'll want to use the color mode (NTSC or PAL) Native to your region. The unit will automatically convert based upon your choice. Check your manual for the appropiate instructions.

4 - Transcode contents.

Go back to your computer and acquire an encoder license of DivX-Create (20 USCY).
Make sure to select the Home Theatre profile. After that, the process is as simple as dragging and dropping files into the encoder icon.

Rename your files using less than 30 characters. This is only so you can identify them more easily on the DVD navigation screen. Also, if you have external subtitle files, they must be named exactly as the video file that uses them. The supported formats are .srt .smi .sub .ssa and .ass

You don't have any subtitles?? May I suggest then the excellent SubTitle Workshop? It's a movie translator's dream come true!

5 - Enjoy!

Why not, it's a snap and you'll appreciate your files comfortably sitting at your coach-potato spot :)

Let me know what you think. Okie?

The future is... disturbing.

2005-12-20T11:48:00.001-06:00

I grew up in a world where science was believed to be the best way we had towards understanding everything around us, maybe even ourselves. I even had dreams of becoming an astronaut, working in space and contributing to the embetterment of our species as we began to spread around the neighborhood of our homeworld.

However, things didn't turn up exactly as many expected.
During the 70's, the interest on sending people to space and establishing a permanent residence on the moon simply faded. Governments changed their agendas, the public shifted its attention to more mundane matters... funds were cut almost without mercy. We still explore space with automated probes though, and that's not bad because they are relatively cheap, easier to manufacture and more resilient to the hazards of space. But I still find our present efforts lacking: all the expertise we managed to create during the late 60's to the mid 70's will soon be lost; practically everyone involved in the manned exploration of the moon has died (or at least retired). Training a new generation of experts shall be costly. But maybe, just maybe, we'll do it correctly this time.

My worries now are focused on the social phenomena that slowly, but firmly, seem to have taken ahold of key positions in governments and media around the planet:

- Mysticism is showing its ugly head everywhere, posing as pseudo-science and making everything it can to discredit real science, even in schools.

- People are more concerned about the latest misadventure of some famous fool instead of the impending global climate change.

- Strong line conservatives abound and have taken leadership of several countries around the planet, blindly and simply ignoring criticism against their manifest destiny. Oh, and in the meantime, why not make some profit too by staging a war here and there?

The world was complex enough before we arrived to it, so we created technology and science to make it easier for us. Now we have become very dependent upon technology, but only a small fraction of the population has a deep understanding of it. Trouble is just around the corner.

The late Carl Sagan foresaw this situation more than 20 years ago, and even was able to predict its outcome to a certain degree. People fear what they don't understand, so they retreat from it and instead take comfort on the easier and more readily available junk data. But at the same time they become more dependent on technology (they can't help it, it's an everyday's requirement of the world we live in).

Slowly, they become users and consumers of magic.

Most industries know this, and even rely upon it. How else can one explain things such as the infamous DMCA and heavily encrypted HDMI signals between media receivers/players and displays, presented to the uninformed as "essential for their own benefit"?

Lies... Lies!

Ah well, I feel a little better now.
On the next installment I'll comment on the joys of hacking and bending to MY will an interesting item of consumer electronics.

Music is food for the soul

2005-12-15T14:48:00.001-06:00

Today I was listening some Smooth Jazz at work, when they suddenly began playing a melody whose name I have been looking for several years... probably more than 10.

Anyway, I wasted no time and googled for it. Not only found who plays it, but I also found a wonderful midi reconstruction and thought I'd share:

Freedom at night, by David Benoit.

Be sure to visit the whole page too. It's a hidden treasure and surely has improved my mood by 2 orders of magnitude.

Now, if only I could convince the local radio stations to begin implementing RDS services...

Ah yes, the holidays...

2005-12-07T10:17:00.001-06:00

Well, holidays are here. They were to be expected.

The overwhelming majority of people find this season enjoyable; but what do others (like yours truly) who find themselves outside that segment do while waiting for it to end?

Spending time at home is not as bad as it used to be. There are more choices for entertainment, true. But somehow, I don't find it very enthusing to spend a whole week watching tv or surfing the web.

Instead, my approach is different and might be described as early-spring cleaning:

* Clean up the mess I have let to accumulate during the year. Not always easy as it sounds, because that implies moving furniture around and leaving no spot undusted.

* Clean up the other mess. This includes rearranging books and magazines while coughing up the accumulated dust, deep cleaning the fridge and washing machine... you get the idea.

* Ordering the rest of the mess. Wires behind an entertainment center have a tendency to reproduce and become so entangled, it's quite a miracle I haven't suffered from any sort of EM radiation poisoning... yet.
Leaving aesthetics aside, this also makes them prone to interference. On most occasions, I end up totally redesigning the connection scheme after a couple days of careful thought.

* Take care of the daily mess. A bachelor can have time for his laundry or to party, but rarely both; guess which one has priority. But this part involves sorting and pairing clothing while also getting rid of old stuff.

Do you begin to sense a pattern?

By bringing order to chaos, interesting things happen at the conscious and subconscious levels: You are doing plenty of physical activity, which helps keep things like S.A.D. at bay. But you are also rearranging things and rediscovering forgotten spots, taking care of them. You are getting rid of old stuff and junk you have neglected for months.

I'm not a psychologist, but I feel that because of these activities, my burdens become lighter. Mood improves too.

Of course, when the holidays are over one is very tempted to return to the old ways. It's ok to do so, I think... but only as long as the cleanup ritual is respected as well.

Oh boy, and I have lots to do for this year.

An image is worth a thousand words.

2005-11-29T11:00:00.001-06:00

So sayeth the folklore... but what happens when we are able to manipulate images at whim? What would happen if hackers "0wnz3d tah w0rl|)"?

Take a look here

One of my favourite places on the net, worth1000.com holds contests regularly to challenge image manipulation adepts.

A never exhausting source of inspiration.

The background story of Battlestar Galactica

2005-11-24T14:50:00.001-06:00

As promised, this post will be about the background story for the reimagined fictional series Battlestar Galactica, of which I'm a big fan.

In case you have not seen yet the miniseries, be forewarned there are spoilers ahead.

Ok? Let's begin!

Two thousand years ago, humanity lived in a planet called Kobol, a word which means "Heaven" in ancient persian. Due to an unspecified cathastrophe, they fled for a new home and founded the 12 colonies of man, spreading across 12 worlds named after the zodiacal constellations: Aquarion, Pico, Arilon, Tauron, Geminon, Canceron, Leonis, Virgon, Libris, Scorpia, Sagittaron and Caprica.

The series does not clearly state whether all of them are located in a single star system (highly unlikely, unless the Kobol civilisation was capable of extensive terraforming and maybe even orbital relocation) or along several of them, although located relatively close to each other.

Another group, however, chose a different direction and was never heard of again except for their destination: A planet called Earth.

The colonial civilisation is more advanced than ours, but certainly not utopian. While it is capable of regular interplanetary and short FTL interstellar travel, quality of life is not uniform; cities have nice and "bad" neighborhoods, at least a grand scale war has been fought between the colonies and the losers were forced to slavery, and one of the worlds (Sagittaron) had to endure a corrupt military dictatorship.

There are also interesting differences. Government and religion are not separated, although priests act as advisors more than rulers. Religious beliefs are polytheistic. The colonial sacred texts esentially tell about how life was back on Kobol, but until the actual planet was found by the survivors of the second exodus, many thought them to be meant as parables or moral lessons about living in harmony.
However, the archeological teams sent to explore the ruins discovered evidence of a large scale conflict and massive genocide: human skeletons were found piled together, unburied and hidden only by the local vegetation and forests. Only then the reason behind the first exodus actually became clear but only to a very few.

In order to take care of harsh duties first, but ultimately used as weapons to fight against each other, the colonies built robotic humanoids and called them Cylons. One day, they turned against their masters and all of mankind had to unite together if they were to stand a chance for survival.

The Human-Cylon war had a great toll of lives and resources and ultimately had a deep influence on the development of the colonies. Because Cylons were capable, among other things, of infiltrating the computer networks aboard battleships and turning them against their crews, this lead to a growing distrust of technology.
Very few automated equipment remained onboard the vessels, and even then, it was forbidden to network it together. Most flight operations, including landings, ended up being done by hand.

A ban on artificial intelligence research was also raised on all colonial worlds.

The war suddenly ended 40 years ago with an armistice and withdrawal of the Cylon forces to an unknown location and nothing else was heard of them afterwards. 12 years before that, an alliance between the colonial worls was created to fight against their common enemy and later became a centralised government of sorts.

In those 40 years, Cylons underwent what could be called a technological singularity. Deeply religious and monotheistic, they covertly spawned new organic and vastly improved versions of themselves into the unsuspecting colonies. virtually indistinguishable from real humans, these bio-droids paved the way for the Cylon return. In a single day, Humankind was all but wiped out of the surface of all the colonial worlds by nuclear bombardments; only those who were aboard space vessels (less than 50,000 people) survived the attack.

Thus began the second exodus. Homeless, the survivors began searching for the rumored 13th colony with the Cylon closely in pursuit... and still with some covert agents gathering intelligence and/or waiting to strike.

There. I hope you liked it. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm a big fan of the series and it disturbingly seems to show.

Let me know what you think, okie?

More fresh meat for the grinders.

2005-11-23T12:15:00.001-06:00

One day, I took my doggies (two Chihuahuas appropiately named Samson and Goliath) to the vet for their vaccine shots.

The vet has a huge Calico cat that roams freely around the premises. He's got quite a personality of his own: Runs to greet and escort customers, watches as his mistress works on the various patients, takes naps in unusual places... well, you get the idea.

On that day, the cat rushed to us and began vocalising with enthusiasm, almost like a salesman. Here's a rough approximation of what he "said":

- Welcome!!! welcome!!! Here's the place... no pain vaccines at reasonable cost. Oh, I see we have two new customers! Worry not, your doggies are in good hands.

Then, he turned his head towards the clinic, and purred:

- Hey Boss... more fresh meat for the grinders!!! two incoming.

And looked back at us, reassuringly:

- Huh... as I said, guaranteed!

Suffice is to say the doggies were less than thrilled. The shots hurted as usual, and I swear that cat was watching from high above as they were being injected.
Such is the nature of cats.

My dear friend Bruno suggested me to write about the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. So you have been warned what to expect on next post.

Back on track

2005-11-18T10:17:00.001-06:00

Yesterday night was the end of a very hectic, but also rewarding week.

Since last week, the art director asked me to generate no less than 30 different versions of a picture mosaic outlining one of our client's logo.

Why so many? Well, let me explain...

Picture mosaics are images made up of collections of other pictures. A computer program divides the target image in cells, then tries to match each cell with another image from the collection based several criteria, including:

- Overall color contents
- How many repetitions of a given image are allowed, in the overall image as well as within a region of cells.

However, it is of the utmost importance the image collection is as varied and abundant as possible. Otherwise, the result will be monotonous and uninteresting.

For this project, our client wanted us to create a mosaic consisting of red SUVs he's giving away on a sweepstake. Since their logo is also red, they thought it would be easy.

Well, it was... in theory.

How many cells should we divide in our target image? Since it is a logo, too few will result in a blurred, unrecognizable color splat. But too many not only will eat up available memory, each cell might become optically smaller and thus difficult to discern from the others. Not to talk about the resulting mosaic resolution should be at least 300 dpi.

We began with a small collection of 4 images, each one from a different SUV model. After adding a white cell to it (to include the target image's background color), first resulting mosaics ended up being dull and repetitive.

After that, we tried increasing the collection with dissolved versions of the original images in 5 percent steps. Results improved dramatically, but the background began to exhibit faint aliasing patterns where there shouldn't be any.

More tweaking on the source collection, this time using a non-linear step scale, lead us to better results. One of them underwent minor retouching with the almighty Photoshop and so was finally accepted by our client.

I won't bore you with more detail, but I'll just mention we had to tweak many parameters to come up with a varied, yet error-free mosaic. Waiting at least 40 minutes to end up with "Sorry, ran out of memory" errors is no fun.

The results were published this week on a local newspaper. Check them out:

Let me know what you think.

A blast from the past

2005-11-16T13:00:00.001-06:00

Back in the 80's, 8-bit computers still were rare items found in a household.
Putting processing limitations aside, their capabilities could also be considered "marginal" by today's standards.

Still, necessity really is the mother of invention.

Imagine a simple flip-flop IC whose output is connected to a speaker via a small amplifier transistor. Each time the computer addresses a particular memory location, the flip-flop toggles, causing the speaker to "click". Do that many times per second and you'll end up generating beeps of varied frequencies and durations.

This was the primary sound circuit found on the venerable Apple II computer, but do not let its simplicity fool you.

Because such beasts also had limited memory capacities, the best way to make the best possible use of available memory and processing power was to write programs in assembly language. Small and fast, yet very difficult to debug.

Nonetheless, geniues like Paul Lutus managed to push the simple beep generator to the limit by making subtle alterations to the click timing loop. The results were astounding: multiple voices (up to 4) with some variations in timbre.

Shortly after that, specialised music hardware began to appear either integrated into the computer's motherboard (like the SID chip in the C=64) or as add-in cards (the Mockinboard for the Apple II). The main CPU could dedicate its attention to more important tasks instead of wasting precious clock cycles in timing loops.

It was in this scenario that Demo Coders appeared. Pushing things to the limit and then some, the main objective was to do as much as possible (graphics, sound) in as little memory space as possible.

Some demo coder groups disappeared while others prevailed. Today I found one of them, specialised in music and as creative as ever:

Vibrants homepage

Listen to their music, and think back how things were in the old days and how much they have changed.

Woot! first post

2005-11-15T12:47:00.001-06:00

First of all, thank you for taking an interest on this blog.
But before we proceed, some things need to be told beforehand:

1. English is my second language, spanish my first. Please bear with me if there are times my phrasing is poor. However, I'm a fast learner.

2. As I'm in the progress of upgrading my life and hence, my future, updates might not be regular at first. But I'll always try to post something interesting in the hope it can be interesting to you too.

So, let us begin.