lunatechian (lunatech-ian) (Entries tagged as link)

Theyre our servants, tools

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:48:49 +0000

"You can see that our real problem is another thing entirely. The machines only do figuring for us in a few minutes that eventually we could do for our own selves. Theyre our servants, tools. Not some sort of gods in a temple which we go and pray to. Not oracles who can see into the future for us. They dont see into the future. They only make statistical predictionsnot prophecies. Theres a big difference there, but Reinhart doesnt understand it. Reinhart and his kind have made such things as the SRB machines into gods. But I have no gods. At least, not any I can see."

— The Variable Man, by Philip K. Dick

in today's odd news: Scientists use Calvin Klein cologne to lure jaguars

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:16:07 +0000

Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure jaguars in the Central American country.

Note that this scent works on jaguars. There is no research of its effects on cougars .

The discovery that Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment by the WCS's Bronx Zoo in New York. The WCS was looking for ways to get cheetahs in front of camera traps, and, after several years of testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the cats for longer than other scents.

Links:

Scientists use Calvin Klein cologne to lure jaguars at Yahoo! News

casio's g-shock watch

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:46:38 +0000

New entry at my site - a review for my watch, Casio's G-Shock MT-G Atomic Tough Solar Watch, which I love. Read more here

Higher Order Perl

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:25:53 +0000

I am in love with the book Higher-Order Perl, especially the technique in the Chapter 2: Dispatch Tables.

GPL still matters

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:48:35 +0000

Today morning I came across this piece of writing - Does GPL still matter?. The whole article is based on a few anecdotes from CEOs and marketing droids. They have gotten quite a few points wrong in the article.

GPL is a developer friendly license. The basic premise of the GPL is that the user should not subtract from the freedom he gets when redistributing software. GPL is not restrictive. It merely insists that whoever takes from the common pool must contribute back to the pool.

I would like to point to these 2 articles in support of GPL -

nice facebook error page

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:59:00 +0000

So, if your user agent is curl or lynx, you will get this facebook error page.

You are using an incompatible web browser.

Sorry, we're not cool enough to support your browser. Please keep it real with one of the following browsers:

Mozilla Firefox
Opera
Safari
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Flock

ILUG Bengaluru Meetup - Saturday 21st February 2009

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:12:07 +0000

Linux User Group, Bangalore have a meetup at the ThoughtWorks office on Saturday 21st February 2009, 4:30 PM onwards. The details of the meeting are here. There are 2 talks lined up- "Introduction to the Android Platform" and "Device Mapper - How it works and why you should be using it". And there will be a key signing party as well.

Go, check it out and help revive the LUG meetings at Bangalore.

good joomla template

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:09:06 +0000

Check out SpaceGlow joomla template by Bernard Esterhuyse. It is nice, however, more importantly, it is GPL-ed. I have been checking put a lot of joomla templates for my site, but all the joomla templates that I came across shared an important defect. Even though the template authors mentioned that the template was GPL-ed, they usually had a link to their own sites in the template, along with the request (or order), not to remove that line.

The Spaceglow template is really GPL-ed. This will allow me to hack it up further.

RIP John W. Backus

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:34:22 +0000

The "B" in "BNF" is gone. NY Times has a nice artilce about him and his noteworthy quote is tucked in at the end

Innovation, Mr. Backus said, was a constant process of trial and error.

"You need the willingness to fail all the time," he said. "You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don't work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work."

Link: John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies - New York Times

eight areas of life that need to be balanced

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:47:55 +0000

I am sure I have heard these same divisons some place else, but I am not sure where. From what I remember, the speaker told us that imagine your life to be a circle and allocate each of these areas a portion of that circle. The area allocated to each of the areas should be proportionate to the time and energy you spend in that area. An ideal secenario would be that you have a circle in which all the areas are nearly equal.

Without much ado, here are the eight areas

Career/Work - In the ideal world, we all love our work. In the real world, we do not. Find a way to be grateful for your job, and useful. You will spend a lot of time at work, better to have a positive experience while there.
Creativity - This is where hobbies are important. Perhaps you are an artist? Find time to create. A great hobby is photography. You can do it as you walk through your neighborhood. It is also a great way to meet people, and to share experiences with others through your photos.
Intellectual - This is an area which is very neglected. It is important that you keep your intellect sharp. One way to do so is to read the newspaper on a daily basis. Or, dive into classic works of fiction, or poetry.
Health & Fitness - Get in shape and stay in shape. There is no substitute for a great diet either. These are critical for living a healthy, balanced life. People who eat right and are in shape have better attitudes than those who do not. If your body feels better, you will feel better.
Social - You need to spend time with your friends, relaxing and socializing. It is very important to have an active social life, as it keeps you connected and involved with the world. Also, having fun and sharing laughs helps you recharge intellectually and emotionally. Without an active social life, people tend towards depression and isolation.
Family - This can be sensitive for some people who experienced difficulties with their parents when they were younger. Your family can be a great source of comfort and connection, as well being supportive through difficult times. It is common for people to feel challenged in their family lives. However, growing through these challenges forges character and integrity.
Companionship & Intimacy - Ultimately, every person deserves a lasting, meaningful relationship. It can be both nurturing and challenging. Ultimately, it serves to help us be open to another person, and understand the nature of intimacy and love. Intimate relationships are important in any persons development. The result is a greater sense of ourselves, and a more fulfilling and happy life. Most of you reading this are probably looking for this.
Austerity - Lastly, each of us needs time alone. This is when we recharge and connect with ourselves, and our purpose. Perhaps this is when we indulge in our hobbies, or when we practice daily meditation. Spending time alone helps us reenter the world feeling refreshed and connected.

Link

the mozilla manifesto

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:55:29 +0000

draft of the mozilla manifesto - short and sweet.

ingenious use of the HL engine

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:03:01 +0000

This looks very obvious in hindsight, but I am sure not many would have thought about this. This guy uses the HL's source engine to produced a model of the Kaufmann House by Frank Lloyd Wright. Using the Source Engine, as opposed to more traditional Architectural Software, allows the use of dynamic lighting and a real-time walkthrough of the scene in high resolution.

Links: the HL map for Kaufmann House and a walk through available here

having trouble reddit's rss on bloglines ?

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:47:27 +0000

If you use Bloglines and you have not been seeing any updates from Reddit on it then try to get your reddit feed from this rssmix feed. I have no idea why Bloglines is not showing updated feeds from reddit.

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:27:43 +0000

I was just reading a very interesting article from Jeremy Allison of the samba team called The Land of "Nothing for free". A very interesting quote

My panel was rather uncontroversial, Microsoft, Bruce Perens and myself being on our best behavior. The only sparks that flew where when Microsoft made it abundantly clear that they would use their patent portfolio to prevent the spread of GPL software. Section seven of the GPL (the implicit patent grant of the license) now looks like the most prescient writing Richard Stallman has ever done. If you're not familiar with it I'd suggest you read it and understand why using the GPL to protect your Free Software is so important.

The article is old, but do check it out.

General Tips & Strategies for Dining Out

nospam@example.com (Raj Shekhar) — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:23:43 +0000

General Tips & Strategies for Dining Out - excellent tips for people who are trying to lose weight.