September 22, 2004
Getting into Photography
Few of you can understand how obsessed my dad is with his Canon 10D. There is no denying that the camera is one of the best hobby digital cameras out there. Today I rediscovered Robert Love's Blog, after wondering why he didn't post anything for several months (he changed servers). I then stumbled upon this post. I remember Miguel carrying around a large digital SLR camera during VM '04, but did not know it was a 10D. Since yesterday I...
Posted on September 22, 2004 01:29 AM
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September 20, 2004
Flickr Photo Blog
Some of you might have already heard of Flickr and others might have seen my new Moblog bar on the left. All of you others should read carefully. Flickr is a weird mix between a Photo Album, Social Networking Tool and a Moblog. It allows you to upload your pictures and make them available to either everyone on the web, or just certain users (Friends, Family, etc.). It also allows you to post pictures through email, which is especially nice...
Posted on September 20, 2004 11:33 AM
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September 20, 2004
Get Organized!
43 Folders is one of the best websites I have come across in a long time. 43 Folders is a blog about how to organize your work and computer life. Since discovering 43 Folders I have revised my Laptop folder structure, allowing to find stuff faster. I have installed and started using several programs that have made my work more effective. The first one was QuickSilver, an app-launcher with many amazing features, such as opening a file, appending to it,...
Posted on September 20, 2004 01:54 AM
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September 09, 2004
RSS: The GPRS KillerApp
Yesterday I wrote a short post that I was going to publish here, but then changed my mind and decided to publish it at NewMobileComputing, OSNews' sister site. In the future I am going to publish some of my longer technical writings on sites like OSNews. For now, take a look at my ideas on RSS on cellphones....
Posted on September 9, 2004 02:11 AM
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September 08, 2004
Have You Learnt Your Lesson?
If I had to choose the most important thing I learnt in college, it is this: Things are not as simple as I thought. This is excellently summarized in this passage by Paul Graham in his essay on Essays. The more anomalies you've seen, the more easily you'll notice new ones. Which means, oddly enough, that as you grow older, life should become more and more surprising. When I was a kid, I used to think adults had it all...
Posted on September 8, 2004 01:19 AM
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August 25, 2004
First Gold for Austria
Australian born Austrian Kate Allen just won the first Gold medal for Austria, in the Women's Triathlon. Allen got virtually no attention from the international press at the beginning of the race, and was far behind when she started the running phase (3 minutes). With her incredibly stunning running performance, she surprised everyone, and overtook the leading Australian a few hundred meters before the finish line, and managed to get ahead 6 seconds of her. I was lucky enough to...
Posted on August 25, 2004 02:54 AM
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August 20, 2004
Silver After All
After posting yesterday's Medal post I went out for dinner. When I got back I was shocked to see that the decision was reversed, and that Rogan won silver after all. I am not nearly knowledgeable enough about the rules of swimming to say whether there was any reason to disqualify Peirsol in the first place, but I think that giving him the gold medal was still the right decision. Both Peirsol and Rogan swam amazing races and nobody can...
Posted on August 20, 2004 01:24 AM
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August 19, 2004
Another Silver Medal....GOLD!!!
I'm first to report it this time: Markus Rogan won his second Olympic Silver medal, and therefore earned Austria its 100th medal in the history of..........OMG. Peirsol was disqualified, Markus Rogan won GOLD!!!!!...
Posted on August 19, 2004 09:56 AM
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August 17, 2004
Markus Rogan on Austria
Those who know me, know how I miss and appreciate Vienna nowadays. Those that know me well also know my problems with my home country, and I have seldom heard them summarized better, than in this interview of Markus Rogan, fellow Austrian and recent Stanford graduate, with the Stanford Daily.In Austria, there is a national culture of being mediocre. I think they have just lost too often, Rogan said. [...] [Austrians] are perfectly happy to be in the middle, Rogan...
Posted on August 17, 2004 05:54 AM
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August 16, 2004
Silver for Austria & Stanford
Markus Rogan just won the Olympic silver medal in the 100 meter backstroke. Though the Austrian ORF was first to post the story, I want to congratulate as well. This is Austria's first swimming medal in 92 years, which is amazing considering that Rogan is said to be far better at the 200 meter backstroke. We will see what happens in the next few days....
Posted on August 16, 2004 10:15 AM
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July 13, 2004
Under the Tuscan Moon
The first time I heard of Under the Tuscan Sun on the Apple Trailers Website (one of my favorite websites, btw) I thought it was some new Star Wars movie, as Tuscan Raider's are infamous Star Wars creatures. Though none of the usual Star Wars actors were in it, I would not have put this past George Lukas. I then proceeded to watch the trailer and realized that Tuscany is what we call Toskana, a very pretty region in Italy....
Posted on July 13, 2004 03:48 PM
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July 05, 2004
Power Failure
The power just went out, leaving everyone without wireless access and dependent on batteries. ... Now it's back. I managed to capture a spot with a powerplug and am now recharging my laptop battery. Having a new battery is great though, I was surfing for about 3 hours and still had an hour of battery left, when I but the laptop to sleep....
Posted on July 5, 2004 06:36 AM
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July 05, 2004
Quicker and Common Posting
I feel like I should post short entries on random interesting things, instead of thinking about them for too long and then not posting them. This beautiful design on the CSS Zen Garden is an excellent example. It is very reminiscent of some of the newer Blogger templates, but of course much prettier. If you are using Blogger, you might want to check this out. Of course remember, that all images are property of the respective designers....
Posted on July 5, 2004 03:32 AM
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May 31, 2004
World Non-Smoking Day
Today is World Non-Smoking Day and Norway just passed a law making it illegal to smoke in public places. Another strike against this horrendously annoying and unhealthy habit. There are restaurants and bars in Europe where breathing is completely impossible, due the extreme amounts of cigarette smoke. As an avid nonsmoker, I am hoping that I will one day be able to go out without having to throw away my shirts the next day because of the terrible stench of...
Posted on May 31, 2004 01:01 AM
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April 15, 2004
Learning Done Right
I have been reading this little guide to historic Japanese culture. In there I found this paragraph, with every student and teacher at Stanford (and anywhere else) should read carefully and take to heart: Even so, quite a few people seem to feel that merely to concentrate on acquiring a skill is somehow unsatisfactory, and seek, in addition, personal relationships -- by arranging parties with fellow students in the same course, or by planning trips with them. And just as...
Posted on April 15, 2004 11:06 PM
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April 01, 2004
This is no Joke
There really is no reason to read the news on April Fools Day, seeing how everything is usually made up. That is, with the exception of Google's Gmail, which offers a gigabyte of email storage. Though it is usually quite easy to spot April Fools Jokes, this one definitely had me convinced that it was bogus, which was obviously wrong. Instead of reading news I will therefore just read my CS 157 textbook and lecture notes....
Posted on April 1, 2004 05:10 PM
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February 22, 2004
CivilLiberties = CivilLiberties - 1;
According to this Guardian article the Blair government is proposing the introduction of random drug testing of students in British public schools. Let it be clear that I oppose any use of drugs and that I am also personally against drinking, but these things should really be of no concern in this matter. The fact is that random drug testing is a draconian measure, with little chance of achieving anything. Even worse, once again, I am disappointed and appalled by...
Posted on February 22, 2004 04:24 PM
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January 24, 2004
Printer Problems
For some reason my blue cartridge is not printing right now, which is quite annoying. I have been printing Black/White only lately, so I think that might have something to do with it. I was trying to print pictures from Monterey, which did not work out at all, I just got green trees with purple stripes all over the picture....
Posted on January 24, 2004 10:57 PM
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January 22, 2004
Wordless Emotions
I used to think that having emotions without words to express them were completely useless. I though that people who cannot reason about their emotions cannot appreciate their own feelings. Last night, listening to Dido and looking at pictures of the beach on my desktop background I realized that I was completely wrong. Though words are one of the things that set us apart from animals, they are not the only one: Art, Music, and complicated Emotion are just as...
Posted on January 22, 2004 02:41 AM
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December 31, 2003
Adding Value to CDs
Nora gave me the Return of the King Limited Edition Soundtrack for my birthday, which is one of the most beautifully designed CDs I have seen in a long time. The CD box also contains a DVD and a well designed booklet. CD covers, booklets and boxes need to be pieces of art (or at least nice looking) on their own, if people are to choose them over digital copies of the same music. A large number of people still...
Posted on December 31, 2003 10:41 AM
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November 08, 2003
Kevin Warwick: A Talk on Cybernetics
This Wednesday I went to a talk by Kevin Warwick on Cybernetics. Warwick, for those who have not heard of him, is one of the chief researchers into Cybernetics and was the first human to have a computer chip implanted into his body. Warwick's research is quite controversial and I was unsure what to think of him, before going to the talk. Warwick believes that integrating the human body with computers is a good idea, and unlike others in the...
Posted on November 8, 2003 12:11 AM
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November 05, 2003
First Entry with Safari
This is the first entry I am writing with Safari, and I very much like it for now. Spellchecking is great. The main reason I am writing is, is because I really like the following opening lines from Commissioning A Symphony In C by Cake: So you'll be an Austrian Nobleman Commissioning a symphony in C Which defies all earthly descriptions You'll be Commissioning a symphony in C With money you squeeze from the peasants To your nephew you can...
Posted on November 5, 2003 10:44 AM
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October 17, 2003
Can's Debate Lessons for Debating Can
I have had so many arguments and debates with people today, that I'm really tired. I always end up caring too much about what happens which leaves me with this weird feeling of incompleteness. Therefore, I want to tell you two things everyone should keep in mind when debating. Remember, that these are simple rules I spontaneously wrote down. If you disagree with the specifics, that is fine, but they are meant to be semi-funny, so don't nitpick: You are...
Posted on October 17, 2003 08:52 PM
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September 05, 2003
Time's Online Edition Completely Overpriced
Today I wanted to read this article on Time Online. It seems that instead of offering everything for free they are now selling access to their articles. That by itself is not a problem, but the pricing is quite ridiculous. Reading just one article costs $2.50, regardless of its length. The article I wanted to read was 316 words long, and I wonder who would be willing to pay this much money for it, rather than just buying a paper...
Posted on September 5, 2003 06:32 AM
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July 20, 2003
Introducing the Mazda RX-8
I went to a driving training ground on Friday and saw one of the sweetest new cars to be introduced in a long time. The car I am talking of is the Mazda RX-8 which will be introduced this September, and will be for sale starting in November. Seeing just one of these incredible cars is great enough, but yesterday I saw about thirty of them, as Italian car journalists were driving them around an obstacle course. Let me say...
Posted on July 20, 2003 08:28 AM
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July 08, 2003
Open Government
MIT started a project to provide people with information about the government. I think that this is a great idea, because information, especially about politicians, is central to any democracy. Although I am not able to vote in the United States, I am very much interested in its politics. For all of you that didn't inform yourself about your states and countries politics, now is the time to get educated, so you can cast your vote with a reason other...
Posted on July 8, 2003 10:34 AM
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July 04, 2003
Kew Gardens Is Made a World Heritage Site
According to this BBC article Kew Gardens in London were given World Heritage Status by the United Nations. The reason I mention this, is because I went there when I was in London 9 years ago and still remember the experience. So if you happen to be in London for a few days (like me and Nora this August) go and visit it, especially the Prince of Whales Exhibit, which has had the name longer than the current Prince has...
Posted on July 4, 2003 06:51 AM
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June 09, 2003
Mafia Site
Sara had the great idea to start an online Mafia community. We will all get together in a group and discuss what it should be capable of, and then I will build the site. We will need some modified CGI Message Board and Polls, plus a few custom scripts. I will then combine those seperate elements into one nice site. I probably won't have much time to play, but building it should still be a fun excercise. Please leave comments...
Posted on June 9, 2003 03:11 PM
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June 04, 2003
Time for a new Style Sheet
After I finish finals I will finally take the time to improve the design of my weblog, add links, write my own CSS, adhere to accessibility guidelines, and start updating it more often. I really like blogging, especially now that most of my friends have blogs. I need to find out on how to write Moveable type templates, that read from a file, because I want to have file of links to blogs. This is very easy to do without...
Posted on June 4, 2003 04:40 AM
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May 27, 2003
Some Random Polls: Once and Only Once
I know I shouldn't post polls to a serious blog, but I will make an exception once. I took the What Matrix Character Poll, and got the following: You are Neo, from "The Matrix." Youdisplay a perfect fusion of heroism andcompassion. What Matrix Persona Are You? brought to you by Quizilla I find myself agreeing with the answer and explanation. Neo is definitely my favourite Matrix Character. Determination and Intelligence are important to me, but so are compassion and love....
Posted on May 27, 2003 01:39 AM
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May 25, 2003
John McCarthy & The Matrix
Warning small spoilers ahead: Don't read if you haven't seen the movie! A student in my seminar with John McCarthy had a theory that the architect in The Matrix reloaded was modeled after Professor McCarthy. From what I hear, he liked the idea, although I had to miss class that day. I am, however, a bit sceptical about the whole thing. Professor McCarthy looks similar to the architect, and like him is one of the fathers of AI, but that's...
Posted on May 25, 2003 01:37 AM
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May 21, 2003
Philosophy of the Matrix
Today I found this great quote, about how our world itself is deceptive, and how in science and everywhere else, things are not as they appear. It compares our struggle against this deception, to Neo's struggle to make people aware of the Matrix.
Posted on May 21, 2003 12:50 AM
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May 08, 2003
Baylon 5: Return to the Future
In 8th grade I started being a Baylon 5 fan. I watched lots of episodes, tried to built model Babylon 5 ships, and the summer before 9th grade, learnt HTML just to make a Babylon 5 website. It took me 3 months of daily work to make the website look good, and several more months to improve it. I improved my HTML skills, improved my English, learnt physics better than anyone I know. Some time during the end of that...
Posted on May 8, 2003 03:15 PM
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April 30, 2003
Personal Flying Machines
This is a response to Professor John McCarthy’s essay on Personal Flying Machines for my CS 22 N class, taught by him. There are several important issues raised by the possibility of building Personal Flying Machines, and they can roughly be divided into 2 categories: Technological Challenges and Social Implications....
Posted on April 30, 2003 12:25 AM
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April 28, 2003
Blogging T-Shirt!
Right now Doug, Albert and me are doing a Loro CS T-Shirt for our Dorm and while looking at T-Shirts I found this blogging shirt at thinkgeek. I think this is just hilarious....
Posted on April 28, 2003 08:39 PM
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April 27, 2003
Userfriendly is funny again.
I hadn't read Userfriendly in a long time, which was very unfortunate. As of today, I'm will read it again daily, and so should you. I will add it to my link section, together with other sites, but for today I have some links to the funniest one's: The Matrix Coke & RIAA Schrödinger's Cat If you have never seen Userfriendly, you should take a look at it. It is a comic about a small ISP, and is for anyone...
Posted on April 27, 2003 03:34 PM
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