Curiosity

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Arthur

Four weeksago or so, NASA’s JPL successfully landed the rover “Curiosity” (wikipedia) on Mars. The landing was probably one of the most watched (and celebrated) events on the Internet, witness the many gifs of cheering NASA people (Happy NASA guy and Happy NASA people) and the pop-rock-star treatment of the NASA engineers at Reddit (“We’re engineers and scientists on the Mars rover mission”).

As any major news event that at one time broke the Internets, news and interest in the Curiosity rover is slowly dwindling down. However, great photos and mission details are posted on Curiosity’s main site at NASA (MSL website). My favourite one is the movie about the landing (taken from images from the one of the rover’s cameras), which thanks to the Internet, was then made into a HD 25 fps movie, which you can watch right on Youtube. If you like hi-res images of anything but Mars, go here.

I’ve always been a proponent of unmanned flight as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts years ago. The risk of losing a rover is worth less than the risk of losing people in extremely dangerous environments.

NASA’s MSL project is supposed to last a year. No doubt, the rover will keep trucking for a long time after that.

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Summer respite and yards

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Arthur

We seem to be slightly going back to normal temperatures here in SJ: that is, cooler temperatures particularly in the morning. You might say that this Summer was one of the warmest: Even Accuweather seems to be suggesting the very same. If I recall correctly, we had 2 weeks of scorching temperatures and even now, I don’t think we’re totally out of troubles yet. But yeah, the temperature changes in the morning (and the dew and our famous fog at that) are refreshing. One could say, I’m almost ready for Winter.

So, the state of the yard is so – so: This was the first year, I’ve seen brown grass patches around the yard. Partially, I blame myself for rigorously cutting the grass too low. There seems to be a good part to the story tho: We cut some of the banks and weeds so low that the wild berry bushes and thistles have been thriving which in turn attracted a lot more ‘good’ insects (bees and monarchs) to our backyard. I believe last year I mentioned I would never take down thistles as they literally serve as ‘lunch rooms’ for foraging working bees. This year the same holds true.

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Another slight of Postgres

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Arthur

Back almost 10 years ago, as mentioned probably a-many times, I exclusively used Debian to deploy Postgres database servers. That was mainly, because (officially) there were no Windows versions out yet, well, except for an older 7.2 version. My main interaction therefore was with bash and the postgres commandline tools (psql). I’ve not had a need to install postgres on a Linux machine since a while ago (2007?), so I was sort of surprised that 9.1 one was the most stable version. I barely touched the 8 series because, as you probably know, back in the days Debian Sarge only supported version 7.4.

I was not surprised I was still able to use psql’s commandline tools: heck, I was surprised that I still remember which command options to use to clear buffers and what not. If you do a combined Windows/Linux development, you don’t need pgadmin: as a matter of fact, I barely used it because (and even now), I find the program’s UI underwhelming.

The underwhelmingness (is that a word?) of pgadmin, was actually the sole reason to start up a SourceForge project to write a Delphi tool to set things right. I ended up abandoning the idea and focused on a tool to export data forth and back using plain ODBC connections. This initially evolved in a tool called ‘Helios’, written in Delphi, which then became HelioSQL when I rewrote this for .Net.

The only reason why I bring this up is to highlight that – while I already had extensive knowledge of Sybase (yay) and SQLserver – my heart was so close to postgres, that I used a similar naming convention for my database query tool.

Add. 1: There used to be a joke in the postgres mailing-lists on how to pronounce ‘PostgreSQL’. There were people who thought the unfortunate naming was the main cause of PostgreSQL’s low adoption rate. Everybody I ran into, just called PostgreSQL ‘Postgres’. The same idea is true for ‘HelioSQL’. I wouldn’t dare to claim that ‘Helios’ low adaption rate is because of its silly name.

Add. 2: A thing that blew me away was that I could run psql on both Windows and Unix platforms. This is where SQLServer is missing out: as far as I know there are no unix tools available that provide connectivity to SQLserver (well, I’m discounting ODBC for UNIX).

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A slight return to Postgres

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Arthur

Years ago, I used to set up postgres on Debian servers. For a couple of test, I had to install Postgres somewhere: Installing on Windows is generally a breeze, but not needing the third-party tools, I decided to go back to Linux and install the database server on my Ubuntu box. While I didn’t have issues with importing test data/databases, there were minor things that had me briefly stumped. So, to install Postgres on Ubuntu and other Debian flavours, here we go:

  1. First install postgres by entering ‘apt-get install postgresql’ in a bash-session/terminal
  2. We need to properly initialize it and I would recommend to add your login user to Postgres: sudo -u postgres createuser -D -P arthur
  3. Optionally, create a new database: sudo -u postgres createdatabase -O username whateveryouhavefordatabasename
  4. Open up pg_hba.cfg (sudo vi /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_hba.conf).
  5. Change the following lines properly (use trust):
    # IPv4 local connections:
    host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust
    host all all 192.168.2.0/24 trust

  6. Open up postgresql.conf and set listen_addresses = ‘*’ properly (* means that postgres will listen to all ip-address as defined in networking)
  7. Restart postgresql
  8. Connect to postgres using the psql client: psql -U arthur -h localhost -d whichever database

The official postgres site has demo databases (or rather links to them): they are around this url

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Debris

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Arthur

One of the more fascinating subjects that seem to occupy the news is the tsunami debris field that has slowly descended on western parts of Canada. Earlier this year, a Japanese HD motorcycle that washed up in Canada made the headlines after news reporters managed to find the owner of it, who had apparently barely managed to survive the disaster.

According to latest estimations, the field contains 1.5 million tons of debris, which has BC authorities pondering what to do with the problem:

“Stuff has been coming across the Pacific forever but to see the start of 3 million tonnes of debris washed off the land and head across the ocean towards us was something I never thought I would see. There’s a wait-and-see approach and most people want to take some action. But it’s a very huge job and we haven’t seen anything yet coming from the government on plans on how to be ready for it and what we’re going to do when the debris hits.”

The US’s NOAA has an extensive site dedicated to the problem (here), which includes an interesting infographic about the field itself and where most of the debris might land (using current and wind models). While the NOAA infographic doesn’t mention any possible findings of human remains, a US oceanographer expects that people might find sneakers with bones in them:

“We’re expecting 100 sneakers with bones in them,” Curt Ebbesmeyer told a tsunami symposium Monday, “DNA may identify people missing since the March 2011 tsunami. That may be the only remains that a Japanese family is ever going to have of their people that were lost. We’re dealing with things that are of extreme sensitivity. Emotional content is just enormous. So be respectful”

Ebbesmeyer, who is the co-creator of the “Ocean Surface Current Simulator computer model”, expects the amount of debris to peak in October of this year.

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Mount and Blade: with Fire and Sword

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Arthur

Earlier this year I decided to give Mount and Blade a try, only because Wikipedia describes the game as a “medieval, single-player nonlinear action role-playing video game”. For the first time, before buying the game, I decided to watch the typical “Lets play” videos, to see if I would (sort of) like the game.

Before I start going on that review-tangent: There are a couple of “Mount & Blade” games around. There are: “Mount & Blade”, “Mount & Blade: Warband”, “Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword” and (just recently released) “Mount & Blade Warband: Napeoleonic Wars”. Today: I’m mainly going over the third game (Fire & Sword), as that version seems to be universally despised by M&B fans. While concepts between all the games are generally the same, Fire & Sword introduced firearms to Mount & Blade. The firearms aspect is what M&B hardcore fans mostly despise as apparently it’s rather easy to be killed by bullets than by arrows (the main projectile weapon in the original M&B series is the bow). Additionally, Fire & Sword appears to be sort of a mod on top of the original Mount & Blade, which does not include several game enhancements introduced by ‘Mount & Blade: Warband’, significantly, the option to build your own empire.

Surprisingly, since I started out with Fire and Sword, I find the game’s mechanics actually better than ‘Warband’. Certainly, if someone fires a bullet at you, you’re either dead or barely alive. However, during battle mode, Fire and Sword forces you to strategically position your troops particularly when the odds are against you. In Warband, while it does provide the option, I’m able to singled-handedly commit genocide even when the odds are 1 to 5. Anyway.

So Mount & Blade is indeed an ‘open-ended RPG slash strategy game’. You mainly move your band over an iso-metric map, collecting as much money as you need and taking on tasks from different factions. In Fire & Sword, the factions seem to resemble factions from Russian history books (Cossacks, Moscovites and Polish). When you cross the path of other warbands, you can either attack or run away. In the case of ‘attack’, the game puts you in a 3D map, where (from a third-person perspective on your horse) you can start attacking or defending yourself against a horde of enemies. There’s an additional aspect to combat: when you’ve collected enough experience, you can actually lay sieges and attack fortresses and strongholds.

On the overall, the combination of combat (sword, firearm) and RPG elements make ‘Mount and Blade’ a compelling game to play. As a matter of fact, I’ve not had so much fun as the combat and strategy elements are unique: there is no other game around where you can ride your horse and squash people with your sword or firearm, not to mention, laying siege and attacking fortresses and that all in first person. Surely, it’s not typically an easy game and it can go on endlessly, making you (mostly) forget about tasks you were assigned by your factions and friendly commanders. You don’t get punished for missing tasks. On my famous frustration scale (if you forgot) it’s a solid 7.5. Graphically, “Mount & Blade” is not a demanding game either (and to be honest, it does look outdated) so I think you should be able to run it on yer faithful Duo Core computer with a lower-end-ish Nvidia 96xx graphics card. If you’re into sandbox games with RPG elements and you love horse riding (haha), you should probably check out the game. If you’re not into ‘one bullet can kill you’ games but like horse riding, you may want to check out “Mount & Blade: Warband”.

Pictures below the fold.

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Surface

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Arthur

Last week-ish, I was going to write something about Microsoft Windows 8. By now you must have heard and read about how the company is chopping up their OS to fit (well, it’s officially called “optimized for”) touch-enabled devices, which has caused quite an uproar in the Windows-sphere.

I’ve been fairly sceptic about Microsoft’s Windows 8 plans and having now mostly used Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), to be honest, an OS is an OS is an OS. Here’s the silly thing I was thinking last week: Knowing that Windows 8 is supposed to be so tablet-centric and because of the outcry of PC users and the like around on the Internet PLUS the fact that OEM (PC manufacturers) have been slow to show Windows 8 devices, well… What if Microsoft was working on its own Windows 8 – ready tablets to generate excitement about Windows 8.

I wouldn’t say I predicted this when I saw the first announcement of the Surface tablet: In the grand scheme of plans – the fact that current PC users have cried foul about Windows 8, Microsoft could just not afford to wait for OEMs to produce good-looking hardware. At this stage, I sort of feel sorry for the OEMs (HP, Dell and others): apparently they were told on fairly short notice that Microsoft was going to build their own tablets. Surprisingly, the tablet was very well received by industry insiders and PC users. As for myself: The chance to be able to play Civ 5 on a tablet sounds attractive: that is, as long as you bring your own cooling pad.

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Android

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Arthur

I have been using my Android-based tablet (review of the Iconia Tab, other Android-related topical postings) now for over a year and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do a recap and go over that device again.

First of all, just a couple of months, I upgraded the tablet to the latest Android version (“Ice Cream Sandwich”, or ICS from now on): I personally think that Google sort of redeemed itself on several Android UI design choices. I generally didn’t care about Acer’s HoneyComb OEM changes and thought the choice of font was, ‘awkward’. With ICS, Google sort of forced manufacturers of Android tablets to take over some of the new Android UI elements.

Secondly, the Android App market has literally exploded: while the two App market places obviously still show that Apple still tops Google, you can safely say that most iOS apps are also available in Android flavours. And if not, surely there are Android alternatives available.

On the development side: after a year of Android use, I still believe that tablets will replace netbooks. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s no market for netbooks by 2013. Heck, I even find the Intel-based Ultrabooks sort of a dubious phenomenon, mainly because I’m not convinced that the current hardware specs (mobile slimmed down versions of i5s and i7s) are properly targeting these devices’ usage. A tablet for occasional browsing and communication? Sure. An Ultrabook for the very same? Not so much.

Which brings me back to my tablet’s daily usage: indeed I use it more for browsing, e-mailing, reading books and a variety of multi-media activities (listening music and or watching video). This is actually exactly what I used it for when I bought the tablet last year. As I mentioned in previous postings, the tablet has slowly replaced my main PCs (Linux/Windows) as the go-to device. To be honest, I’m still sort of surprised how the A500 has become (literally) the information center piece. This has some drawbacks and they are mostly, you guessed it, on the technical front. I will go into that in a later posting.

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SXSW 2012 (part 3)

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Arthur

So, the final list of tracks worth listening to: or rather the list of tracks that made it to my audio device. Over time (time permitting), I’ll add links to the artist’s websites but for now you’ll have to do with the (unedited) remarks.

Interesting additional notes:

  • There are plenty of Canadian bands in the list. Unintentionally. Apparently, everybody loves Canadian bands.
  • I had the impression that Chinese rock is slowly invading our Western world. For example, the quality of Duck Fight Goose’s music is really good.
  • There’s a lot of HipHop/RAP/R&B acts. There were so many tracks that I frequently skipped tracks. There’s good hiphop, also and some of it made it to my list.

While I was a lot more hesitant listening to all 1200+ tracks, generally, I thought that the SXSW torrent files were once again a good source to find new upcoming and interesting artists.

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SXSW 2012 (part 2)

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Arthur

Late, but it’s been done: I finally managed to listen to all the songs (all of em) of this year’s SXSW torrents (previously). More than last year’s effort (see here), I had the feeling this was very painful. While I’m sure that this set of music does not reflect the state of the music scene (well, lets hope so), I thought there were a lot more hiphop/soul/yaddayadda acts this year. I don’t mind good hiphop but, honestly, everything sounds the same these days. Worst yet, I had the same feeling of the ‘regular’ music. I still ended up selecting over hundred tracks, which is more than I imagined. The main list is here: unedited. Later this week, I will compile this stuff into edible portions. Before I head into the 5 best (or rather, surprising) acts and songs, I am surprised that last year’s best 5 songs still appear frequently in my favourite playlist. Highly recommended songs. But without further ado:

  1. Hooded Fang – ESP (youtube): Band from Toronto that surprised me with surf-rock-pop-lyrics. Refreshing and (I guess) already well-known in Canada for their prime minister Harper stunts.
  2. Maya Azucena – The Half (youtube): Powerful mix of soul and rock. Mind you, she’s been around for a while. Obviously I had never heard of her.
  3. Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds – Make it rain youtube) She’s apparently, white, but her vocals are like, you know, she could have been African American.
  4. Duck Fight Goose – Glass Walls (youtube) Electronic pop. Check. Guitar effects. Check. Chinese. Wait? Is this going to be the the year of the rise of Chinese Rock?
  5. Todd Reynolds – Transamerica – (link) With Transamerica, classically trained violist and composer Todd Reynolds blew my brains out. Member of the Steve Reich ensemble, he’s described as a “daredevil”, frequently crossing over to electronic music.

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This is cat.

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Arthur

When our oldest cat passed away, there was generally no doubt that we’d get a new one to accompany our other cat, Puffy (right here!). To be frank: Puffy the black cat is just not photogenic. Kitty (“Katherine”) was, Puffy not.

So, our new cat, Molly (“Millifred”) brought home a cold, flees and a bold new change of the guard as she, now over a month in, she’s bossy and tender. She’s obviously a young thing, but I don’t recall Puffy being as bad. Ever. They do get along so once and a while.

Which reminds me that I’ve slowly attributed human skills to these cats, which obviously my wife finds extremely unfair: Kitty was an extremely smart cat who could turn on and off light switches and who preferred human heat. Puffy, is the fuzzy sort of cat who at this age still does not cover up her, well, messages. And Molly? I fear she’s going to be a troll, who does not give any damn if you’re bigger than her.

On preview: I should go back to reading my books.

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Eye of the Beholder/Grimrock

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Arthur

This is not going to be a review of sorts: However, I bought ‘Legend of Grimrock’ (producer) the other day, which is an old-style hack-and-slash dungeon crawler a la “Dungeon Master”, or, rather, more to my experience, “Eye of the Beholder”. I’ve only briefly mentioned “Eye of the Beholder” before on this site (here).

The game has been a resounding success, if I may say so: It looks like the Finnish developer has already recovered the cost of producing the game. This is surprising: Back when I played EOB (and EOB2) I always thought the introduction of games from Id Software (you know the 3D FPS) basically replaced the trusty dungeon crawlers: from one day to the other, these crawlers became ‘out of date’ technology. No matter how you turn it: Quake, was the turning point for PC-gaming.

While playing Grimrock, I run into frustrations as reported by many others on the Internets: however, most of them are actually neglectable if you think about the type of game Grimrock actually is: It’s a dungeon crawler. You’re supposed to take the time for it. For someone who finished both EOBs, like ages ago, the puzzles are what make these kind of games enjoyable.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Arthur

While I’m at it: I haven’t had time to put any thoughts on games. Not that I spend my hours on playing games all the time: however, 2 or 3 months ago, I managed to finish ‘Skyrim’ (product page, wikipedia page).

I’ve played but never finished ‘Oblivion’ (review here) or its predecessor, ‘Morrowind’ (never reviewed): Actually the latter I actually played on an XBOX before but I can’t recall I actually finished it or not. Regardless, while I loved Oblivion, like anyone else, I despised the game’s ‘level scaling algorithm’. Good news first then: in Skyrim there appears to be no level scaling happening. I believe I was able to finish the game in 120+ hours and generally, it wasn’t too hard, combat-wise.

Right: Skyrim is an FPS-based open-world RPG. Technically you can do anything what you want to do in this game: while there are main quest lines (and the dozens of sidequests), you could venture out into a town, kill anybody and walk away from the onslaught. I think in one case, I refused to do a specific side-quest for people of a particular town and since I refused it, I decided just to kill all of them. The beauty of the game is that it detects people have died and (in my case) killed storeowners were replaced by unnamed assistant-shop keepers. Not bad, Bethesda.

Combat is still sort of clunky: Switching from magic to swords (and vice versa) is tedious. Bethesda provided keyboard short cuts, however the amount of available short cuts is not enough. If you’ve selected a combat-like character, there’s no point to try to get ‘magical points’: you might just as well find or create the very best armour/shielding there is. There are (and I won’t reveal too much) specific quests to find these items.

Technically and graphically, the game is not too far off from ‘Oblivion’: the engine is pretty and scales fairly well (I ran this on my 3-year old P7350 laptop). I don’t recall experiencing ‘slowdowns’ during hectic combat. I believe Skyrim auto-detects your graphical display capabilities: I would recommend to ‘notch it down’ a bit.

There’s so much more to tell about Skyrim: in my 120 hours, while I’ve discovered a lot, I can tell for sure that I’ve not seen 100% of the world. It feels humongous and the changing weather patterns (and northern lights!) make Skyrim feel truly a world of its own. Highly recommended.

See below for screenshots.

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