Month: June 2004

More on blogging

Although sites which host blogging communities like Live Journal can help in burning down some time and picking up few interesting ideas, standalong blogs are way more enjoyable and fun. Unfortunately, smart and interesting people are usually busy with other things and don’t update their blogs five times a day. But, boy, is it cool when they do so! :)

A simple trick to enjoy lots of articles in the smart person’s blog is to ignore the site for some time. You just have to be careful not to leave it long enough to forget about it. Today I read a lot of insightful articles at Joel on Software. Alan Cox‘s diary still appears to be in Welsh and I’ve lost that convenient link with someone’s translation. I am not sure the guy could cope up. :) Alan’s wife Telsa though keeps an interesting diary too. And it is in English. Proper English.

Global warming

There has been much said and heard about global warming and it’s effects worldwide. Some people are afraid that something is going to happen very soon. Others think that few generations have to pass out before any visible changes can be noticed. For me personally global warming is not the top of the list problem, but I am very interested in the developments. Films like “The Day After Tomorrow” do remind…

Why had I started on this topic now? That is simple. It was raining in Limassol today. Noone I asked, including somewhat aged cypriots, can remember anything like that. Rain in the end of June. It was cloudy for the past few days too. And this winter had so much rain that Cyprus hasn’t seen in about 30 years. Coinsidence? I think not… :)

Software horror stories

All sorts of computing systems are all around us. All of these systems use some kind of software to operate. Software is written by humans. Humans make mistakes. These mistakes cause some real trouble onto other humans. Some examples of such troubles are listed at “Software Horror Stories” website.

94. Rumor has it that a military plane flipped over when crossing the equator.

Split window view in screen

Screenshot

screen is an excellent program which is used by many people. It allows one to have a number of virtual consoles in a single terminal, attach and detach to different sessions and much more.

Today I found out that not only it is possible to have several terminal sessions simulatenously (windows as they are called), but it is possible to have few of them visible at the same time. There can be several regions on the screen each of which will display it’s own window. I know it is confusing, so just search the manual for ‘region’.

On the screenshot, I have two regions. In one of them I am reading the manual for screen. In the other – I am tailing the logs. The only thing I am missing so far is the ability to split windows vertically.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Today Olga and I went to see “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban“. This is a third sequel to a very well known Harry Potter story.

This time the director was different. Instead of Chris Columbus, who did both “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone“, it is Alfonso Cuar�n. And it shows. Generally it’s the same kind of story with the same people in the same places, but few bits lose the touch. Somehow it feels unfinished. In few places it is very noticable, in others – not.

Overall it is a nice movie to go and see, especially I think if you read the book (I didn’t) or if you enjoy computer graphics a great deal. But in comparison if the previous two films I found this one a bit lacking satisfaction. I will surely go see the next two parts (in 2005 and 2007), which will be done by yet two other different directors. :)