Out the windows...

... in with the doors. Or put in another way why and how I ditched Windows (Vista) for Linux. Vista the worst operating system from MS ever. It eats resources like candies. Come on, on new double core systems it drags and drags for a bit of shiny graphics...

The partitioning did not go too well - GParted live CD was working for 5-6 hours (It was actually reporting half that time as elapsed, it was counting in real time) only to say 0 out of 1 operations completed and then do the same thing again...

Then as I was killing time I discovered that it is very erratic when dealing with NTFS partitions (now you tell me instead of a big bold disclaimed as a wallpaper).So I took the plunge and rebooted the laptop.

Calamity.It couldn't boot and couldn't reach the secret partition where the restoration image was located (Oh no why provide restoration CDs when we can charge for them £35 when requested and let them wait up to 28 days?).

So Linux all the way. No dual boot. Well installing Linux was another adventure on its own. Equipped with a couple of DVDs from computer magazines I have tried a number of distros:

PCLinuxOS: Great, plays DVDs out of the bix, but no wireless card was supported.Great: would be fun trying to fetch all the required packages from the netcafe...

XUbuntu: No DVD support, wireless card detected but could not connect to the wireless network...

Fedora: I expected that to work, but during the installation the setup was asking to install the installation disk - didn't recognize that was itself...

Open Suse: Managed to 'misplace' the disk somewhere within the house. have the cover but not the disk.Superb.

Sabayon: very impressive! I would rather to give Ubuntu a try but beggars can't be choosers.

[The verdict]
Sabayon did install, could connect in my wireless, but it typically takes 5-6 attempts to do so. Still haven't figured why.

DVDs and media: Well apart from mp3s, video files and DVD are not supported out of the box. Had some luck only with Ogle for DVDs but all the rest players refuce to work. Currently looking into the video/codecs.

[The feeling]
It is gonna be a long curve till I get everything (I would settle with most) working, given that even digital cameras and external USB drives refuse to work (The motto why me comes to mind...).

In the mind of an engineer...

... or why most engineers do not get along with religious norms.

1001...

... movies.

Well not quite, or at least not yet. I have recorded 820 movies watched so far (taking into account movies in cinema, DVDs but not the numerous old movies in telly) without elaborating the sequels, trilogies, or series (the bond series has 20 movies, the star wars 6, you get the picture).

1000 movies X 2 hours on average = 2000 hours ~ one working year (40 hours x 50 weeks). Hm should I have completed a masters in that time ? Or a bucket load of certifications?

Then again if one starts breaking down life like that, s/he will find that spent 10s of years sleeping ('...if only I had been sleeping 6 hours instead of 8...'), a couple of years queueing etc... while the miracles of life (the moment you see your first born, the day you are at your kid's graduation etc.) maybe add up to a year... if you are lucky.

Spiralling..

... out of control or as part of progress ? We develop as we do things, we go forwards and backwards. It is fair for one to say that after 1 year of doing a role s/he is:

1. at the same stage that s/he has started (all this backwards and forwards netted out to null)
2. at some point forward based on the experience/ accumulated money etc.
3. at some point backwards based on the thing(s) s/he has not done (regrets)
   
4. at some point neither forward or backward but at higher or lower level (see spiralling)

Perhaps the above simply mean that there are 4 directions, forward and backwards (tactical advancement) and (higher,lower) strategic advancement.

Circle of life...

1. you see a sexy girl
2. you go out
3. you get married
4. you become a managing director
5. you see a sexy girl

quite accurate, wouldn't you say ?

Industrial Stories

After reading a series of books based on the 'inside-track' of certain industries:

• hotel
• airline
• luxury beach resort

one can not help but to wonder, whether this trend can extend to most/all industries and to what extent this would be appealing to some/many/most? people.

Well for the IT industry the following pic would be a great illustration of typical and recurring situation in many/most? offices.

(Re)discovering...

the past. Who said that travelling back in time is not possible? No I can't go back to school - they wouldn't have me, but I can discover deep almost forgotten memories , let alone discover now 10-20 years later things I have missed baaack then.

Latest such discovery: Kim Wilde. Not bad for her kind of music - not my cup of tea or to quote a friend 'I would listen to it, but I would not buy it' (see economics).

Obvious 80s influence, but it is impressive: which of the today's pop-divas will be issuing albums 25 years from now? We shall see..

The World politics...

in a picture worth of a billion rather than the usual thousand words.

Behold:

Desires...

in an imperfect world. That is really what economics are.

Yes there are truck loads of definitions, works etc. but based on a couple of books and certain discussions with friends it sinks in more and more.

The world is imperfect and it has to be - nothing in the universe is. Just physics...

Therefore economics which are based on scarcity - take scarcity away and there are no economic problems (well maybe overpopulation)- will be imperfect as well.

And who needs perfection ? No one really - the key is reaching a state where one can say good enough.That sounds plausible. If only it wasn't as possible as someone catching their shadow...

The Art of...

...anything really. Granted we do have the 'fine' arts

• painting
• sculpting
• photography
• theater
• cinema

(non exhaustive) but what about others ?

Architecture is an interesting one as it is probbaly the most durable (see pyramids,parthenon etc). Is it science, art or both?

If art implies creativity isn't engineering an art? Maybe less glossy -granted, but still...
Dictionary.com gives 16 definitions for the word 'art'.

I will stand to only two:

1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance
2. skill in conducting any human activity

Any skill developed in an individual more than average makes that individual an artist in that particular field.

Everyone has a field s/he excels at (even if that field is well stupidity for some) so we are all artists...

Hm perhaps it is time to change my business card from the universal in my area "Consultant" to "Artist"...

Book of Faces...

Social networking sites - Myspace, Facebook, Tagged you name it.

Do the add value ? True value as opposed to a score count: "I have more 'friends' that you do.."
Is it for acquaintances or for friends ? There is a saying that a happy man needs only the fingers of one hand to count his friends and a heart to measure them...

Clearly not the case with the above sites. Is it fashion ? Now that we 'all' got broadband connections zillion of pictures to share and show off our trips, concerts, conquests...

Time will tell....

C# at last - or is it at least ?

Finally I get down to writing some code using c#...

Syntax similar – guessing the ‘equivalent’ names for Java constructs
(without book/reference) hard.

IDE ? SharpDevelop which is rather good – but playing with custom
assemblies it damn too easy to mess up your installation of
IDE / .NET and make a mess. Too fragile.

In the java world unless you start deleting files /
sub-dirs in the JDK root you can’t really mess things up.
Evidently this tight coupling with the system is the
underlying reason for this fragility.

I started working on a small utility in C#
(no more details without a Non Disclosure Aggrement).
Desktop based – will migrate to become a web based.

The idea is it will become a showcase for all constructs
on the language from Threading to Networking,
XML,and in its web form ajax and the rest.

Phoenix ... rising

Well surprise surprise. Like all IT/CS people 'do as I say - not as I do',
I neglected to back up the previous 'instance' of this blog.

Hence with the blogger/ google merger my blog was stuck in limbo.. Google /
arcgive.org nothing can find it. OK I admit it was a half cooked attempt
to note down 'stuff' and was not updated since July ? but still it is 'inconvenient'

Lesson learnt (or should I say re-enforced?)

Funny thing is that after some digging around it emerged that the old blog
is indeed up and runing,but disconnected from this account. Go figure...

Hence I will 're-port' the old posts...

Little things

...can make you or break you. It is funny how things either all come together, like there was a predetermined yet invisible plan, or fall apart just like the laws of physics say they would. Lets see what tomorrow will bring. Is it going to be one of ‘those’ moments?...

Testing imified

Well it works !! Imified.com. Instant Messaging is taking the financial sector industry and the enterprenours by storm. This is why...