ckunte.com » Asides

NL’s disaster warning system

Chetan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:47:36 +0000

Expatica: “Text messages warning the public of disaster situations in the Netherlands will be introduced nationwide in 2009.” A novel idea, I think.

1839

Chetan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:58:32 +0000

Wired runs a documentary on how in the year 1839, photography became public knowledge: “Within days, opticians and chemists in Paris sold out of the supplies needed to make cameras and plates. Improvements to the process followed within weeks. Daguerre’s instruction manual was translated into a dozen languages within months. No one wanted to have a portrait painted; everyone wanted a daguerreotype.” Fascinating!

Finder ↔ Terminal

Chetan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:38:48 +0000

As I work between the Finder and the Terminal window, I find this enhanced open terminal script priceless. (On Windows, I use DMEX for similar functionality. In Nautilus, you’d install an Open Terminal link within the context menu by running the following at $ prompt: sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal ; you’ll need to logout and re-login though to see this option become visible.)

CO2SINK

Chetan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:15:53 +0000

Shell: “Going underground with greenhouse gas.”

In the repo

Chetan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:20:01 +0000

Moved both of my simplistic plugins—Extract blockquote info, and Small caps—to be hosted, served and updated via wordpress.org. Should’ve done this long ago, but I guess it’s never too late. Btw, there’s a donation link somewhere, and it points here. If you like the plugin(s), and feel like donating, please do—to a charity of your choice. (I’d be happy to know if you did.)

Bypassing protection

Chetan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:55:07 +0000

Bruce Schneier: “Bypassing Microsoft Vista’s memory protection.” Update: Govind responds with a verbatim quote from one of the authors of the paper.

Gold!

Chetan — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:02:16 +0000

For a country of a billion population, our first gold comes after decades of sour eyes. We’ll take it! Abhinav Bindra, thank you! You’re my hero. [Update: Abhinav Bindra on the day after.]

Films this weekend

Chetan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:20:51 +0000

We watched two grown-up, and two kiddy films this weekend: Mulan II, No Country for Old Men, Enchanted, and The Holiday. I enjoyed the last two much more than the first two. I mean it’s serious fun seeing Jack Black in a non-comedy film, particularly if it isn’t easy to visualize him in anything other than his signature ROTFL role in Orange County.

Surfer dude and the LHC

Chetan — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 08:58:36 +0000

The New Yorker: “This summer near Geneva, the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful machine of its kind ever built, will be turned on, and begin smashing protons into one another. It will take years for the data to be analyzed, but rumors of the results will leak out and find their way onto the Internet. The L.H.C. contains the aspirations of several camps of particle physicists, who hope that it will offer some confirmation for their theories.”