tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74826171514593934602024-03-13T13:12:19.134+01:00burny's blogMake it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-85425506111217283872012-05-28T16:56:00.001+02:002012-05-28T16:56:30.542+02:00Either in Scala: A language demonstrationSome of you might have noticed that I (finally!) started learning <a href="http://scala-lang.org/">Scala</a>. I used it for a while now and already made a few posts about it on my german blog.<br />
As I am still addicted to the last.fm API and I wanted to create somthing useful while learning a new programming language, I decided to start coding <a href="https://github.com/tburny/scala-lastfmapi">a brand-new all-shiny last.fm API library for scala</a>, because nothing sufficient exists in this area. From my point of view, the best scala approach until now <a href="https://github.com/guardian/music-api-scala-client">was made by the Guardian</a>.<br />
<br />
So, lets start by making a simple sample request:<br />
<pre><code>
class Artist(configuration:Configuration) {
val apiService = configuration.apiService;
def getInfo(name: String): Either[ArtistProfile, Error] = {
val call = new Call("artist", "getInfo", Map("artist" -> name))
val response = apiService.service(call)
response.result(ArtistProfile.apply)
}
}
</code></pre><div><br />
</div><div>The code looks fairly readable, doesn't it? We have a class which takes a parameter of type Configuration and a method which returns either an <i>ArtistProfile</i> or an <i>Error</i>.</div><div>Lets dig a bit into that:</div><div>The first line of getInfo creates a new call object, which stores e.g. the method to call and the methods parameters, so no magic here.</div><div>In the second line, we use the <i>apiService</i> field to receive the response via the <i>service</i> method. Nothing special is going on until now. As you can see, no type is specified for the response variable. This is one handy aspect of scala called <i>type inference</i>. In many cases, the Scala compiler can automatically assume the type of the variable. The <i>val</i> statement makes the variable immutable(say: <i>final</i> in Java), in contrary to a <i>var</i> statement. It should be sayd that you also can specify the type if you want to.</div><div>Now the response variable should contain on Object of type Response.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Lets take a look inside that class:</div><pre><code>
class Response(val xml: NodeSeq) {
/**
* Gets the root element of the xml inside the <lfm> tag
*/
val dataXml = xml(0).child.collect {case e : Elem => e}
/**
* Return the Error or None
*/
val error: Option[Error] = Error(xml)
def result[T]( xmlConverter :(NodeSeq) => T) : Either[T, Error] =
error.toRight(xmlConverter(xml))
}
</code></pre><br />
<div>The constructor takes an xml. In scala, all constructor parameters are stored as class fields. Again, the xml field is made immutable so noone can change it.<br />
I don't want to go much into the details of dataXml, only that it contains the xml of the API response. The error field is far more interesting:<br />
<i>Error(xml) </i>produces something of a type <i>Option</i> which takes <i>Error</i> as the type of the generic. Generics are typed between square brackets in Scala, so it is like in Java.<br />
The option type represents either <i>Some(Object)</i> or <i>None</i>. Both <i>Some</i> and <i>None</i> are of type <i>Option</i>, of course. So Option[Error] means, either there is <i>Some(Error)</i> or <i>None</i>.<br />
<br />
Now to the result method:<br />
As you can see, it returns an <i>Either[T, Error]</i>. <i>Either</i> can be used to represent a kind of type choice. Either the API request was successful and result returns the resulting object of <i>type T</i> or an error occured, in which case, we return an <i>Error</i> object. <i>Either</i> has two subtypes <i>Left</i> and <i>Right</i>, which represent the left, respective the right generic of <i>Either</i>.<br />
The <i>Option</i> type is a bit similar to <i>Either</i> and conveniently has two functions <i>toLeft</i> and <i>toRight.</i> You can guess that they accordingly return a <i>Left</i> or <i>Right</i>. In the example above, toRight returns an <i>Error</i> if the value of the error field is Some(Error).<br />
In the <i>None</i> case, it returns an object of type <i>T</i>.<br />
<br />
Wait! What is <i>xmlConverter</i>?<br />
The answer is: <b>A function</b>. Scala is not only object-oriented, but also <u>functional</u>. If we want to parse the xml to a result object of type <i>T</i>, this could become a bit tedious in Java, but not in Scala.<br />
We simply can use a function as argument, which converts the result's xml into an shiny object.<br />
The variable name for this function argument is <i>xmlConverter</i>. It takes, as mentioned before, a <i>NodeSeq</i> (a set of xml nodes) and returns something of type <i>T</i>. We don't need to take care <i>how</i> it does that, only that we can use it.<br />
Long story short,<i> xmlConverter(xml)</i> takes some xml and returns an object of type T. The created object now is a parameter for the <i>toRight</i> method of the <i>Option[Error]</i>. If there wasn't an error, our converted object is returned and else an error.<br />
In Java, you would create an interface(say: <b>Lots</b> of different interface implementations) which you then can use as a function arument, but It's not nearly as powerful as functions as argument of other functions.<br />
At first glance it seems like magic, but if you have tried some <a href="http://haskell.org/">Haskell</a> before, it's nothing unusual anymore.<br />
So now we have a generic result-XML to resulting object method.<br />
<br />
Back to the artist class:<br />
<br />
<pre><code> response.result(ArtistProfile.apply)</code></pre><br />
Here we can see that the function we use here is called apply and belongs to the ArtistProfile class. It should be said that in this case, apply is static and serves as a factory method. The factory pattern is very common in Scala.<br />
<br />
Hopefully you have now learned how beautiful an innocent-looking piece of code can be and how powerful Scala as a functional, object-oriented language is. Comparing to Java, Scala is much less verbous: Optionan braces and semi-colons, forced indentation for beautiful code and so many more genious things which aren't available in Scala.<br />
It should be said that you can use any of your old Java code within Scala, as it runs inside the Java Virtual Machine.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-29538230325738531702011-09-17T01:46:00.000+02:002011-11-13T14:35:18.048+01:00Race conditions are the result of lazy codersToday I got a ticket about a race condition my boss identified in a self-written java data class(Java's GreogorianCalendar class is extremely slow and just crap). The problem is very subtle and hard to reproduce.<br />
<br />
Take a look at the following sample Java snippet:<br />
<br />
<pre><code>class DateTime {
MyCache datetime = null;
private void initDateTime() {
// Creates a fresh MyCache object
// and initializes datetime.colonTime to null
datetime = new MyCache();
}
String getColonTime() {
// datetime is some kind of
// lazy caching variable declared
// somewhere(does not matter)
if (datetime == null) {
//Uses lazy to initlialize variable, takes some time
initDateTime();
}
// Colon time stores hh:mm as string
if (datetime.colonTime == null) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
//Now do some steps to build the hh:mm string
//...
//set colon time
datetime.colonTime = sb.toString();
}
return datetime.colonTime;
}
public static class MyCache() {
String colonTime = null;
public MyCache() {}
}
}</code></pre><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<code><br />
</code><br />
The problem is that the getColonTime( ) method sometimes returns null although it always should return a time in the format hh:mm, like 17:49. Your first reaction sure is "No, it will always return something, because datetime.colonTime gets the value of the StringBuilder."<br />
You're - of course - wrong, but it is very normal that you thing this way. The little devil is sitting in the details, waiting with his triton to peak you really hard.<br />
<br />
Assume that we have two threads A and B who call getColonTime() at the same time (or nearly, if you only got one CPU). Threads are managed by something called a scheduler, who determines which thread has to pause and which one has to be run next. There are various scheduling algorithms, but most of them act like threads were having a party and the scheduler has to divide the CPU time cake. He does by serving each thread a piece of the cake while the other threads got to wait for their own slice.<br />
So each thread has a defines period of time it is allowed to run before being paused again by the scheduler (e.g. it ate his piece of cake and now enqueues again to get a new one). Oh and our little devil is the boss of the scheduler ;)<br />
<br />
Back to the problem:<br />
What happens if two threads A and B call getColonTime() at the same time? First, A enters the first if block, because datetime is null. As it happens, the scheduler decides to pause A before it can execute initDateTime(). Now B can run, it enters the method, jumps into the first if block and creates a new MyCache instance. Notice that, as the comment says, this also will set datetime.colonTime to null.<br />
It then resumes and executes the contents of the second if block. It's a really widely used lazy pattern - initialize the variable's value when needed once and afterwards only return that value on subsequent calls.<br />
So, B reaches the line <i>datetime.colonTime = sb.toString()</i> and our colon time member now got a value and continues to just before the return statement. Our evil scheduler now might think that this might be a good opportunity to pause A and resume B.<br />
<br />
Thread B now calls initDateTime() the second time. The result is, guess what, a new MyCache instance is being assigned to datetime. As our intention was to initialize datetime.colonTime lazy, the value of the latter is null again. So where's the problem? It will run through the second if block again, gets the value of the StringBuilder and everything is fine again, isn't it?<br />
Surely not. Little devil has one of its really evil days and pauses thread A before it can execute the <i>datetime.colonTime = sb.toString()</i> command. As a result, datetime.colonTime is still null.<br />
Again, thread A is resumed. There's only the return statement left, so the method will return the value of datetime.colonTime, namely null.<br />
<br />
I took a lot of efforts to write a unit test which triggers this problem at least <i>sometimes</i>, lets say for one in a hundred calls, but I failed. The probability for this to occur is so low that the result was null only in 5 or 6 in total of all test runs. Each test runs that method about 200 000 times using multiple threads and I did a lot of test runs....<br />
<br />
So whats next?<br />
I will have to make sure that I can write a reasonable test which provokes these errors. While browsing the internet, I stumbled upon a really young project called <a href="http://code.google.com/p/thread-weaver/">thread weaver</a> which looks really promising Maybe I'll give it a shot on monday.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-29029805445067807662011-08-20T23:35:00.001+02:002011-08-20T23:36:18.330+02:00Lifting Combo.fm to a new level with ScalaIt's project week at my company! So every employee can spend one week on whatever he likes to, as long as it has benefits for the company.<br />
<br />
I will spend this week trying to learn <a href="http://scala-lang.org">ScaLa</a>. This would of course be really boring if I wouln't have a project at my hands that will be the result of this.<br />
So I came up with Combo.fm. It is currently written in PHP, Smarty, some MySQLi and JavaScript. Especially PHP and partly Smarty can be a bit painful and aren't really contributing to the fun I normally have while programming.<br />
<br />
The goal of the project is to evaluate IDE/Tomcat integration with Scala, getting to know the language and to try the <a href="http://lift-web.net">LIFT-Framework</a>. I am looking forward to a great programming experience and a lot of fun, fun and again - fun.<br />
<a href="http://www.combofm.de">Combo.fm</a> will be rewritten from scratch using the existing HTML and JavaScript code and hopefully extended by some features I wanted to have long ago, like authentication and a lot of other awesomeness.<br />
Of course, the results will be published as open source code on a newly created git repository.<br />
<br />
I will report about the next steps soon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-758743911911706012011-05-02T21:37:00.000+02:002011-05-02T21:37:46.725+02:00Twitter share button with changeable url and no external widgets.jsYesterday I wanted to add a "share on Twitter" button to the Combo.fm homepage, so users can share their created combo stations via Twitter, The normal button available by Twitter did not work as I wanted it to, it initializes the Button on page load. If you want to change the url afterwards, nothing happens and even the iframe solution did not work. Shame on you, Twitter!<br />
<br />
So I created a custom solution which basically can do the same, but without the counter. Best thing is, it does not depend on the widgets.js so the page doesn't take ages to load.<br />
<br />
I basically used the <a href="http://dev.twitter.com/pages/tweet_button#properties">link solution for the tweet button</a>. So assume we want to share an url mydynamicurl.com/mysubpage, but use example.com as the count url(in case twitter or I get this fixed).<br />
The example.com/mydynamicsubpageurl is created within the website dynamically, depending on the users input and you are in no way able to put it as your current url.<br />
<br />
Put the following code somewhere in your section:<br />
<code><br />
<script type="text/javascript"><br />
function shareOnTwitter(url) {<br />
popupWindow = window.open(url,'popUpWindow','height=300,width=500,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,toolbar=yes,menubar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=yes');<br />
</script><br />
</code><br />
This function is responsible for creating a popup window where you can tweet the shared url.<br />
<br />
For the share button use the following:<br />
<code><br />
<a id="shareOnTwitter" title="Tweet example.com!" href="http://twitter.com/share?url=%%shareUrl%%&counturl=http://example.com&text=Check%20outthis%20awesome%20dynamic%20page&via=mytwitteruser" onclick="shareOnTwitter(this.href);return false;"><img alt="Tweet this!" src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/t_small-a.png"></a><br />
</code><br />
The parameters are explained in the tweet button documentation linked above. If the user clicks the link, the shareOnTwitter function will be called with the link's href attribute, which will open a nice popup window that uses Twitters intent page for tweeting.<br />
See that I use a placeholder %%shareUrl%% in the url. We will use jQuery and the JavaScript replace function to insert the actual url:<br />
<code>function setTwitterShareUrl(url) {<br />
$('#shareOnTwitter').attr('href', $('#shareOnTwitter').attr('href').replace(/%%shareUrl%%/,url));<br />
}</code><br />
<br />
If you want to change the url more than one time, you might want to use the link in a template element and call the replace() function simply on the html. Then replace the old share link attribute with the new one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-77329718828333670432011-03-19T02:01:00.000+01:002011-03-19T02:01:46.718+01:00burny|net - My own personal websiteThe last days I spent parts of the spare time I should have spent learning maths into creating a new personal homepage, including a German blog!<br />
You can reach it at <a href="http://http//www.burnynet.de/">http//www.burnynet.de/</a>.<br />
Don't be afraid, I will continue blogging here, too. But my mother tongue just leaves me more freedom to express what I think. A blog is like a public diary, so in consequence it is mainly for my personal record - but too for entertaining you of course :)<br />
burny|net is not German only. I created this page mainly for the purpose to have a central place which bundles all my projects and virtual identities into one website. Plus, as you aready might have seen, Combo.fm has its home there, too :)<br />
<br />
I hope at least my dear german readers will visit my homepage from time to time - it is work in progress and an RSS feed will come, of course, but really worth visiting. Just check out <a href="http://www.burnynet.de/newsdetails.Ist-Atomenergie-zukunftsfaehig.newsDetail.c933ab44d82120704b5e.de.html">my newest blog entry there</a>, I guess you will have a lot to laugh (even those who use Google Translate ;) ).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-15693425039960804202011-03-15T02:24:00.006+01:002011-05-17T00:09:06.095+02:00Combo.fm improves your listening experience on last.fm<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">History</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span">Nearly a year ago I wrote <a href="http://burnysblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/combo-station-urls.html">about the radio query language</a> and wrote a Java application called Combo.fm as a proof of concept.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span">Naturally, at least as far as I'm concerned, proof of concept projects are not maintained very well and buggy and the Java application was no exception. It just had some major backdraws regarding usablitly, portability and layout which made it a no-fun project.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So about two weeks ago I got the idea to re-write the whole thing from scratch using pure HTML, CSS 3, and JavasScript. I did some investigations and as I am a curious guy I tried some new stuff like jQuery, <a href="http://lastfm.felixbruns.de/javascript-last.fm-api/">Felix Brun's Javascript Last.fm API</a> and the <a href="http://960.gs/">960 grid system</a>. They are both awesome in and of themselves, but in combination they can create a quite nice look and feel.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The result was overwhelming and the project drastically improved my Javascript and CSS knowledge. No wonder Google lets their employees spend 20% of their working time on own projects - at this point they are doing something right.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The new Combo.fm</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Enough talking, just see yourself:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><a href="http://www.combofm.de" target="_blank"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Combo.fm - Combined Last.fm radio stations</span></b></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I added last.fm's new mix radio and also the friends radio. Using cutting edge HTML 5, Combo.fm should work with all major browsers like Google Chrome, Mozialla Firefox and reqkonq.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">As I am a person with lots of ideas, the current version is, lets say: A tiny step for me, but a huge one for the last.fm community. And now replace "step" with "beer" ;)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Its current features include:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
<div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Listen to similar artists, tags, your library, mix radio, recommendations, neighbours and the friends radio</span></span></li>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">
<li>Combine stations as you like by connecting them with and, or and not</li>
<li>Mainstream-ness: Set how much mainstream your music should be</li>
<li>Set song repetition rate on a per-hour basis</li>
<li>Enable or disable discovery mode</li>
</span></span></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Planned:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">- Sharing stations over social networks like Twitter and (maybe) Facebook</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">- Shout your station urls - directly from Combo.fm</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">- Far in the future: Last.fm player on Combo.fm which displays Combo.fm station's name properly#</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Notice: Combined radio stations are still in beta stage. There might be bugs and trouble and I personally ask not to abuse it. Thank you :)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">This project needs your support!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Currently the problem is that especially the new Combo.fm is largely unknown. So:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Link it! Tweet it! Like it! Share it! Put in your forums signature! Join the project! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Spread the word! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The Last.fm messias has arrived and it has great news to say: You <b>can</b> combine Last.fm's radio stations, in any order and as many as you like!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Special Thanks</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">To the <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/about/team">Last.fm guys</a>. You are doing good and reasonable work! Go on with that!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">To all the last.fm moderators who tested Combo.fm and reported bugs.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Skiye for the discussions, chats and testing until the late morning.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Thank you</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">for using Combo.fm! It means very much to me :)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Tobias Brennecke</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The creator of Combo.fm</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">P.S.: Can I have spam, bacon eggs and spam, but without the spam in it?</span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-87790982086625013712011-03-11T12:03:00.002+01:002011-03-11T12:10:28.081+01:00KDE: Creating a RocketDock style quick launch barSince a few days I've been looking for a KDE replacement of <a href="http://rocketdock.com/">RocketDock</a>, which is basically a quicklaunch bar at the top of the screen.<br />
Today I came up with a nice solution, which isnt a perfect replacement, but enough for what I wanted:<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
First, right click on your desktop, preferably in the top area, and select "add panel"->"Empty panel". You will see a new, empty bar at the top of your screen.<br />
Now click "add widgets" and type "quicklaunch" into the search box. Drag the "quicklaunch" widget into the empty panel and add your desired applications.<br />
It will look similar to this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X0roYdK3evk/TXn9hmdKJnI/AAAAAAAAFAo/jwPdOlQaFvo/s1600/Panel_Quicklaunch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="8" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X0roYdK3evk/TXn9hmdKJnI/AAAAAAAAFAo/jwPdOlQaFvo/s400/Panel_Quicklaunch.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now I do some extra configuration to make the panel occupy a minimum space on my desktop.<br />
First it would be good to have it align in the center of the screen, because from center to top is shorter than from the center to the corner.<br />
So, right-click the panel and then "Panel Settings". Click "More Settings" on the right and select "Center" and "Auto-hide".<br />
Below the panel you can see 4 arrows which determine the minimum and maximum width of the panel. Drag the lower ones to make the panel so tight that it merely fits your quicklaunch widget. If you dragged too far, you can use the upper arrows to expand it again.<br />
With the slider the center you can align the center of the panel. Now drag the "height button" a bit down to maximize the icon size.<br />
If you like to, you can add additional widgets, for example a system monitor.<br />
When you are finished, click "lock widgets" to hide the useless panel settings icon on the right.<br />
Voila, here you got your centered, auto-hiding quick-launch bar!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DKP5VQQvbVs/TXoBNIoL13I/AAAAAAAAFAs/SHn99bKbpmY/s1600/Panel_Quicklaunch_done.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DKP5VQQvbVs/TXoBNIoL13I/AAAAAAAAFAs/SHn99bKbpmY/s400/Panel_Quicklaunch_done.png" width="400" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-32997951139133755822011-03-05T18:04:00.001+01:002011-03-14T00:19:21.206+01:00A Spammer who won a prize and two new CD'sAs always, it's been a long time since my last post. I didn't pass the test in higher mathmatics, so I have to learn a lot, plus the usual stuff I have to do for working.<br />
I promise to continue the Ireland series and also will report you the new and noteworthy things from the <a href="http://www.fosdem.org/2011/">FOSDEM 2011</a> in Brussels, where I've been <a href="http://http//www.naturalnik.de/wordpress/2011/02/kurzes-update-was-war-und-was-steht-an/">with Nik</a>.<br />
<br />
This morning I woke up. Pling! New mail on my cell phone. It was a PM notification mail from Last.fm. You might know I'm one of the moderators there. It was something like<br />
<blockquote><pre wrap="">Maybe this is your golden chance! Just one click to win a prize! Give it a try
- it is free but if you have some luck... <span class="moz-smiley-s1" title=":)">:)</span></pre></blockquote>Dear Spammer!<br />
Thanks for being so stupid, that really made my day :D I mean, which intelligent human being either codes a bot who sends spam to mods or, if sending the message manually, checks that I'm not a bot.<br />
Please, next time use a big red "PLEASE BAN ME" sign as avatar and the same text as profile name.<br />
Thanks :D<br />
<br />
Other news....I bought two new CD's, namely<br />
<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://last.fm/music/R.E.M.">R.E.M.</a> - <a href="http://last.fm/music/R.E.M./Around%20The%20Sun">Around the Sun</a> with <a href="http://last.fm/music/R.E.M./Around%20The%20Sun/Leaving%20New%20York">Leaving New York</a> on it(13 Tracks, 8 Euro)</li>
<li><a href="http://last.fm/music/The%20Doors">The Doors</a> - <a href="http://last.fm/music/The%20Doors/The%20Very%20Best%20Of%20The%20Doors">The Very Best Of The Doors</a> with e.g. <a href="http://last.fm/music/The%20Doors/The%20Very%20Best%20Of%20The%20Doors/Riders%20On%20The%20Storm">Riders On The Storm</a> and Light My Fire on it(20 Tracks, 20 Euro)</li>
</ul><div>I really love them both although one Euro per track is really an exception I made, because I <b>love</b> "Riders On The Storm" :)</div><div>And yes, <a href="http://www.lastfm.de/group/I+Still+Buy+CDs">I still buy CDs</a>! I love it to put them into my CD player and read the inlet while the music is playing and most times the inlet contains lyrics, too, so you can sing the track which is playing currently. Plus you never can get a better audio quality than from CD.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-69406086681766791712011-02-12T01:22:00.002+01:002011-02-12T01:30:06.511+01:00Ireland day 3: The wonderful barnThe third day I didn't do anything special, I was just soo happy to see Isy again <3<br />
Yesterday's bus trip to Leixlip was nearly painless except the bus had to wait for a traffic accident to be cleaned up. Isy and me had a lot of things to talk about and time passed by too fast! Nina, Zoe and the rest of the family were so friendly and lovely as all the other poeple in Ireland, which is maybe a bit unusal for german poeple, but I was happy :D<br />
<br />
When she sent me her letter weeks before, I googled her address and saw a strange building called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Barn">The Wonderful Barn</a>" just a footstep away.<br />
So now I liked to see it and went there with her and little Tadgh. He looked really sweet in his buggy and was very happy about the walk for fresh air and a shiny blue sky.<br />
So here it is, the Wonderful Barn:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vzFIpe7ND0c/TMLnfhkny4I/AAAAAAAAEGE/nBWABE1RlrY/s1600/DSC03032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vzFIpe7ND0c/TMLnfhkny4I/AAAAAAAAEGE/nBWABE1RlrY/s400/DSC03032" width="400" /></a></div><a name='more'></a><br />
Sadly it was under renovation when I went there but the photo is nevertheless beautiful :)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/The_Wonderful_Barn_Leixlip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/The_Wonderful_Barn_Leixlip.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wonderful Barn (from Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Here you've got another (CC-by-sa 2.0) picture from Wikipedia:<br />
The Wonderful Barn was built in 1743<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">on the Leixlip side of the Castletown Estate.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"></sup></span><br />
As you can see there are corkscrew-like stairs winding up the tower. It has a hole inside and the generally accepted theory is that it once has been a corn storage, as there is a hole in its center where the corn could fall through.<br />
Another theory is that it has been, like the two towers flanking it, used as a dovecote or that is is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly">folly</a>. As in the posts before, I'd like to let the pictures talk :)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inuBiAy2iQw/TMLnhl5gOEI/AAAAAAAAEGI/ZwR4dW2ZvvM/s1600/DSC03033" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-inuBiAy2iQw/TMLnhl5gOEI/AAAAAAAAEGI/ZwR4dW2ZvvM/s320/DSC03033" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dovecote tower covered in green</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NImEkFd10UY/TMLnsOiZ6kI/AAAAAAAAEGc/rsgJyNGT4KY/s1600/DSC03037" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NImEkFd10UY/TMLnsOiZ6kI/AAAAAAAAEGc/rsgJyNGT4KY/s320/DSC03037" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCiS_6ie038/TMLnukC6RkI/AAAAAAAAEGg/QzE12y7rQVc/s1600/DSC03038" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCiS_6ie038/TMLnukC6RkI/AAAAAAAAEGg/QzE12y7rQVc/s320/DSC03038" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JpJykohwowY/TMLnwoh4NmI/AAAAAAAAEGk/VWljFrOf8uM/s1600/DSC03039" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JpJykohwowY/TMLnwoh4NmI/AAAAAAAAEGk/VWljFrOf8uM/s320/DSC03039" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look insite the dovecote tower</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gmcK0B7Q0B0/TMLnymESsII/AAAAAAAAEGo/S6Ri-FXoXlM/s1600/DSC03040" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gmcK0B7Q0B0/TMLnymESsII/AAAAAAAAEGo/S6Ri-FXoXlM/s320/DSC03040" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nOAnKrCxzBA/TMLoEWmchGI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/cKaf_nQ4faA/s1600/DSC03049" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nOAnKrCxzBA/TMLoEWmchGI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/cKaf_nQ4faA/s320/DSC03049" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dovecote tower number 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Of course I made some other photos, too which I don't want to hide from your eyes:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wjs1lAvo7qo/TMLnbZjARNI/AAAAAAAAEF8/gselfFOvIlk/s1600/DSC03030" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wjs1lAvo7qo/TMLnbZjARNI/AAAAAAAAEF8/gselfFOvIlk/s320/DSC03030" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely, isn't it?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mm3he4lZBco/TMLn-RF-acI/AAAAAAAAEHA/w1kWRdDgdg0/s1600/DSC03046" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mm3he4lZBco/TMLn-RF-acI/AAAAAAAAEHA/w1kWRdDgdg0/s320/DSC03046" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Made me homesick, I missed my dog!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LzmPO_Xlkr4/TMLoCWiUAmI/AAAAAAAAEHI/ot31Asc_PyQ/s1600/DSC03048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LzmPO_Xlkr4/TMLoCWiUAmI/AAAAAAAAEHI/ot31Asc_PyQ/s320/DSC03048" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>After that "power walk" we were so exhausted that Isy and me went to the local coffee company and drank a tasty Latte Macchiato :-9<br />
<br />
<small>All pictures - except one from wikipedia - were taken by myself and are licensed under a Creative Commony Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.</small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-72460540751170003502011-02-11T03:34:00.002+01:002011-02-11T03:36:33.521+01:00Ireland day 2: Dublin BaySo here is a new episode about my trip to Ireland last autumn (how time can fly by...).<br />
Dublin isn't that far away from the Irish Sea, it's got a large area of docks and that stuff. You could see the cranes and some red-white chimneys in the far distance and it was clear to me that I wanted to go there.<br />
On my trip, which partly was a long walk down the liffey, I took of course some nice photos which I want to show you. If you like the photos, take a look at my Picasa web album at <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay2DublinBay#">https://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay2DublinBay#</a>. All picutures have a Creative Commons cc-by-nc-sa 3.0 license :) If you want to have them in full 12 megapixels, just contact me.<br />
<br />
Breakfast started with a really funny and interesting article in a news paper lying around at the hostel:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w3olDmL9cOk/TLS03fwQg1I/AAAAAAAAECo/d8K55Ss2Ox0/s1600/DSC02779" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w3olDmL9cOk/TLS03fwQg1I/AAAAAAAAECo/d8K55Ss2Ox0/s400/DSC02779" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shoe-house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Custom_House">Custom House</a> shown below is a reconstruction of the original. During the Irish War of Independance it was burnt in 1921 by the IRA. The made sure the firefigthers were as far away as possible when lighting it and the whole original interior has been destroyed.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUycr6Hs5wo/TLS1Fc6dLeI/AAAAAAAADzU/Aw1RuX7tMzs/s1600/DSC02788" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUycr6Hs5wo/TLS1Fc6dLeI/AAAAAAAADzU/Aw1RuX7tMzs/s320/DSC02788" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Custom House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After a while I saw and photographed <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/2UnJ">these sculptures</a>, they were only about 10 minutes away from the Custom House. They should remind of the Great Famine.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-trwK9__xOjI/TLS2JCfKdhI/AAAAAAAAD1k/eyZaxry_Qww/s1600/DSC02824" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-trwK9__xOjI/TLS2JCfKdhI/AAAAAAAAD1k/eyZaxry_Qww/s320/DSC02824" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dublin Great Famine memorial</td></tr>
</tbody></table> From what I guess they are related to the UN agreement stated in the picture below. Of course the wealthy industrial nations did not keep their promise to feed the poorer people in world.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tpy2_W3aiik/TLS2UQSFIRI/AAAAAAAAD18/G0NPo3BBvxY/s1600/DSC02830" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tpy2_W3aiik/TLS2UQSFIRI/AAAAAAAAD18/G0NPo3BBvxY/s320/DSC02830" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n1-2av0MSxU/TLS2XqOd-nI/AAAAAAAAD2E/ycONyldSM_8/s1600/DSC02832" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n1-2av0MSxU/TLS2XqOd-nI/AAAAAAAAD2E/ycONyldSM_8/s320/DSC02832" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liked the bridge architecture</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qqrDONyP1r4/TLS2Yy3_CmI/AAAAAAAAD2I/LthhfWCFCR8/s1600/DSC02833" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qqrDONyP1r4/TLS2Yy3_CmI/AAAAAAAAD2I/LthhfWCFCR8/s320/DSC02833" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ship with the Convention Center in background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Did I tell you I have a fetish for bridges? This one is the Samuel Beckett bridge. Depending from which side you see it, it is either the Irish Harp or the Guinness harp. Actually, when the Irish Republic was founded they had to turn the harp so they do not violate Guinness's copyrights.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5toUjzgjHRQ/TLS2f-UcUgI/AAAAAAAAD2g/i2A_YYHH5sw/s1600/DSC02838" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5toUjzgjHRQ/TLS2f-UcUgI/AAAAAAAAD2g/i2A_YYHH5sw/s320/DSC02838" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samuel Beckett bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zSC8zaLub54/TLS24PXIJ1I/AAAAAAAAD3k/RDsiBaYd54U/s1600/DSC02854" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zSC8zaLub54/TLS24PXIJ1I/AAAAAAAAD3k/RDsiBaYd54U/s400/DSC02854" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near Samuel Beckett bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eumdhX_QzO4/TLS26K6bkCI/AAAAAAAAD3o/nzmXtynZfCE/s1600/DSC02855" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eumdhX_QzO4/TLS26K6bkCI/AAAAAAAAD3o/nzmXtynZfCE/s400/DSC02855" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UojVkSQMwsA/TLS27ytXV1I/AAAAAAAAD3s/cazLnfKybZo/s1600/DSC02856" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UojVkSQMwsA/TLS27ytXV1I/AAAAAAAAD3s/cazLnfKybZo/s320/DSC02856" width="240" /></a></div>At the traffic lights I discovered something curious and funny. Oh no they put "dangerous" flouride in the tap water! What comes next? Maybe Dihydrogenmonoxide from which you can get ill if drinking to much of it? (Think of it...or use google :D)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvXlYTXWC8A/TLS2zXX6v7I/AAAAAAAAD3Y/Fos7yKlkSqM/s1600/DSC02851" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvXlYTXWC8A/TLS2zXX6v7I/AAAAAAAAD3Y/Fos7yKlkSqM/s320/DSC02851" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing with the focus</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://www.theccd.ie/">The Convention Center Dublin</a> had some special attraction to me, too.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4AecNgCq8w/TLS29ZB78vI/AAAAAAAAD3w/QuyeNmfVzdM/s1600/DSC02859" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4AecNgCq8w/TLS29ZB78vI/AAAAAAAAD3w/QuyeNmfVzdM/s320/DSC02859" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CCD</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CBm_Y2p_nkI/TLS3ESmCtRI/AAAAAAAAD4E/nghB-q2BDOg/s1600/DSC02864" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CBm_Y2p_nkI/TLS3ESmCtRI/AAAAAAAAD4E/nghB-q2BDOg/s320/DSC02864" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">October feast ship :D</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My dublin trip was at the end of september, the time where the October feast starts in Germany(and no, we are not running around in leather trousers drinking white beer all time ;) ). It looked kind of strange and funny to me and Paulaner is definitely not really the best beer you can drink!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBXk-WkVKPQ/TLS3FzU2BWI/AAAAAAAAD4I/Nv-czjGIrbA/s1600/DSC02865" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBXk-WkVKPQ/TLS3FzU2BWI/AAAAAAAAD4I/Nv-czjGIrbA/s320/DSC02865" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An old T-bar for a crane between to buildings.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udizL-J-36w/TLS3I9-1GjI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/1-6J5x6k1tM/s1600/DSC02867" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udizL-J-36w/TLS3I9-1GjI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/1-6J5x6k1tM/s320/DSC02867" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art: Flow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>This pice of art looked really interesting. They put tiny metal plates shining in all colors of the rainbow, but mostly blue, in a large array in that gas station. The installation was made by Martin Richmal in 2008 and should show the reflections of water or fire and reminds of the banded containers which were once shipped here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Next was a bigwheel beneath "The O2" which is a multi-purpose hall which you might have seen on some of the pictures before.<br />
I had of course a ride for I think 8 €(special offer for students) to to take some beautiful pictures. Only some of them will be shown here, for the rest <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay2DublinBay#5527244102957179874">take a look at the web album</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Be2ZOrBMHuI/TLS3L999oiI/AAAAAAAAD4Y/PGZmlLttI8U/s1600/DSC02869" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Be2ZOrBMHuI/TLS3L999oiI/AAAAAAAAD4Y/PGZmlLttI8U/s320/DSC02869" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The O2 with the bigwheel behind</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-po6JWX9A7Uw/TLS3ec-DJlI/AAAAAAAAD5U/hWFmBtYUfeM/s1600/DSC02884" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-po6JWX9A7Uw/TLS3ec-DJlI/AAAAAAAAD5U/hWFmBtYUfeM/s320/DSC02884" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ8_tiwhOTw/TLS309UjPXI/AAAAAAAAD6Y/GJ47pBbr8SA/s1600/DSC02902" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ8_tiwhOTw/TLS309UjPXI/AAAAAAAAD6Y/GJ47pBbr8SA/s320/DSC02902" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View on Dublin Bay far in the distance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The pictures above shows my destination, Dublin Bay. If I am not completely mistaken, the mountains at the horizon are outer areas of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicklow_Mountains">Wicklow Mountains</a>. It was clear to me that I definitely want to go there some other day which I did, see one of my next posts :)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-chY0rOygT2M/TLS3zZTGCsI/AAAAAAAAD6U/JTx9XC5xQ0Y/s1600/DSC02901" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-chY0rOygT2M/TLS3zZTGCsI/AAAAAAAAD6U/JTx9XC5xQ0Y/s320/DSC02901" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cQJNuhMFLA4/TLS3yOCq3SI/AAAAAAAAD6Q/2g9wVZF-3kk/s1600/DSC02900" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cQJNuhMFLA4/TLS3yOCq3SI/AAAAAAAAD6Q/2g9wVZF-3kk/s320/DSC02900" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View back to Dublin city</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8lc0Z94dsdY/TLS4E32gO8I/AAAAAAAAD7A/xbJ34whZeDc/s1600/DSC02912" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8lc0Z94dsdY/TLS4E32gO8I/AAAAAAAAD7A/xbJ34whZeDc/s320/DSC02912" width="320" /></a></div>On my way to the chimneys and the lighthouse, it became clear to me that I had underestimated distances a bit. Nevertheless I saw these nice and beautiful houses near the docks area.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pmapo_lve40/TLS4Oy29AoI/AAAAAAAAD7c/ZUt_QI1J97I/s1600/DSC02918" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pmapo_lve40/TLS4Oy29AoI/AAAAAAAAD7c/ZUt_QI1J97I/s320/DSC02918" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carribean dream</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The house above was a bit special because caribbean plants in Ireland looked really weird to me.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rIL7aC9aAII/TLS4cMBgmSI/AAAAAAAAD78/J1K6ouumO0E/s1600/DSC02928" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rIL7aC9aAII/TLS4cMBgmSI/AAAAAAAAD78/J1K6ouumO0E/s320/DSC02928" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Power plant entrance with mountains in background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I took the picture above only because of the wonderful view on the mountains behind.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Up-hVlgBYck/TLS4exOwFcI/AAAAAAAAD8E/gE302TA8LYw/s1600/DSC02930" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Up-hVlgBYck/TLS4exOwFcI/AAAAAAAAD8E/gE302TA8LYw/s320/DSC02930" width="240" /></a></div>Hooray, I'm nearly there! The way was a bit difficult to find because the city map didn't show anything of this area. The building in front made me a bit curious, but I cannot get any additional information. From what I guess it belongs to the power plant and maybe is the old power generation building which has been replaced by a more modern one.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jGL61wAVlA0/TLS4ht6QfdI/AAAAAAAAD8M/KDNIVjJx0QA/s1600/DSC02932" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jGL61wAVlA0/TLS4ht6QfdI/AAAAAAAAD8M/KDNIVjJx0QA/s320/DSC02932" width="320" /></a></div>I saw some interesting stuff on my way, like the basin above. Being curious what it contains, I took the photo above.<br />
The picture below shows something I have never seen in Germany in that way: Movable homes and where (poorer) people actually live in! Looks really messy around, but I'm happy to have seen some sides of Dublin which are not seen by everyone.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gNUqgY2hQ7Y/TLS4jEq6euI/AAAAAAAAD8Q/NgvuYNj2aa4/s1600/DSC02933" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gNUqgY2hQ7Y/TLS4jEq6euI/AAAAAAAAD8Q/NgvuYNj2aa4/s320/DSC02933" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iub3BCq-FI/TLS4l52k-FI/AAAAAAAAD8c/U4ZM_AXa8E4/s1600/DSC02935" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iub3BCq-FI/TLS4l52k-FI/AAAAAAAAD8c/U4ZM_AXa8E4/s320/DSC02935" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poolbeg Generating Station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>They even had a horse for some purpose, which looked kind of nice in the landscape. But I also felt a bit uneasy because appearently those poeple don't own as much money and stuff as me. I felt with them, which made me a bit sad.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCizQLy3qac/TLS4pOUrGYI/AAAAAAAAD8k/dwfww5oflI8/s1600/DSC02937" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SCizQLy3qac/TLS4pOUrGYI/AAAAAAAAD8k/dwfww5oflI8/s320/DSC02937" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beach at Dublin Bay with view on the Irishtown Nature Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Final destination: Dublin Bay. For some 360° shots, <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay2DublinBay#5527245661049395586">see the web album</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-57jJY7iOCIU/TLS5X96IKFI/AAAAAAAAD-c/SNC0NSTrXbQ/s1600/DSC02966" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-57jJY7iOCIU/TLS5X96IKFI/AAAAAAAAD-c/SNC0NSTrXbQ/s320/DSC02966" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Power station towers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4naZp6Zuyb8/TLS5iSWXxBI/AAAAAAAAD_A/4gycQ56_M68/s1600/DSC02975" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4naZp6Zuyb8/TLS5iSWXxBI/AAAAAAAAD_A/4gycQ56_M68/s320/DSC02975" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5fyK3DogVeY/TLS5dGGAT-I/AAAAAAAAD-w/p-dfatUqTyA/s1600/DSC02971" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5fyK3DogVeY/TLS5dGGAT-I/AAAAAAAAD-w/p-dfatUqTyA/s320/DSC02971" width="320" /></a></div>After a while I had to return, because Isy was waiting for me in Leixlip. While I was playing around with the camera's settings I discovered it has a smiling detection, which had to be tried out :D<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YJ2W3itKUhc/TLS6VbaxZhI/AAAAAAAAEBo/L8_O0jMNbB4/s1600/DSC03019" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YJ2W3itKUhc/TLS6VbaxZhI/AAAAAAAAEBo/L8_O0jMNbB4/s320/DSC03019" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YYUQkz9yO8/TLS6YMunSQI/AAAAAAAAEBw/Y_saw_uaSxo/s1600/DSC03021" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YYUQkz9yO8/TLS6YMunSQI/AAAAAAAAEBw/Y_saw_uaSxo/s320/DSC03021" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some tiny park in front of the basin </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pnfHcwbYWO0/TLS6dHut3UI/AAAAAAAAECA/g7P90g6bkGE/s1600/DSC03024" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pnfHcwbYWO0/TLS6dHut3UI/AAAAAAAAECA/g7P90g6bkGE/s320/DSC03024" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The O2 bigwheel again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The way back was a real power walk, because I had my ten kilo backpack with all the clothes and that stuff on my shoulders and my feet hurt like hell, but I had to catch the bus to Leixlip.<br />
I will stay at Isy's, a really lovely friend from my old school, the rest of the days I have left. Isy works as an Au-pair there, taking care of her host-family's son Tiagh(say Taigh). They were all soo nice and lovely and little Tiagh was really, really cute. Interesting thing was he could get everything he wanted with two word: Baba(bottle) and tata, which basically meant pointing to something or "please give that to me". Little children are always fun and Isy and I had a great time playing with him.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-12604772291091691902011-02-01T05:03:00.002+01:002011-02-01T10:09:59.433+01:00KDE 4.6 is out and I love it!Today I discovered KDE <a href="http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.6/">has released version 4.6 of their desktop Suite</a>.<br />
It is really awesome and much faster, although I still have to explore the details a bit further (never used e.g. "Activities"). I was surprised by the really cool login screen, then by the faceted search feature of dolphin, etc....<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TUeINvlYhzI/AAAAAAAAEzA/U7COkbfhb-s/s1600/kde+4.6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TUeINvlYhzI/AAAAAAAAEzA/U7COkbfhb-s/s320/kde+4.6.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desktop and Dolphin</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I came to that point when I booted kubuntu on my desktop pc to upgrade it to Kubuntu 10.10 Maverick. When I clicked on the wifi icon, something totally different than on my laptop showed up. Have to admit I have been using Windows 7 on it for a while, but I was astonished how fast Kubuntu (still with old KDE) was. I thought that I might have missed something during the various dist-upgrades on my laptop and stumbled upon the great news. I first updated on my laptop(just add <i>ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports</i> to your software sources via KPackageKit), which didn't make any effect on that network-manager tray icon, the old one was still there.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
After some playing here and there I found out that knetworkmanager has been replaced by a package called <i>plasma-widget-networkmanagement.</i><br />
So I typed<br />
<code>sudo aptitude install plasma-widget-networkmanagement</code><br />
I was asked to remove knetworkmanager and was a bit scared(no GUI for WiFi connections is not very nice) but I said "yes", installed and rebooted (of course plasma crashed :P).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TUeFP3blGkI/AAAAAAAAEy8/nGgx34jYeqs/s1600/plasma-widget-networkmanagement.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TUeFP3blGkI/AAAAAAAAEy8/nGgx34jYeqs/s320/plasma-widget-networkmanagement.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">network management plasma widget</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Plasma crashed again when I tried to place the widget in the taskbar and I had to remove the whole system tray notification area and then had to put it there again (interrupted by 2 plasma crashes). After that it showed of together with the rest of the tray icons as it should and the world is fine again :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-21760222105297447922011-01-20T04:08:00.002+01:002011-01-20T04:15:31.492+01:00T42p: Making AccessIbm Button launch an applicationUnder Kubuntu, the "Access IBM" button has no function. I just decided to change that, luckily it's like a key on the normal keyboard so we can assign an action to it.<br />
In my example this will be konsole, the KDE terminal. You can't ever get enough of them ^^<br />
Follow these simple steps:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Open KDE system settings dialog</li>
<li>Click 'keyboard shortcuts and gesture control'</li>
<li>Now "My Shortcuts" on the left should be highlighted. At the bottom center of the dialog, click "Edit", then "New->Global Shortcut->Command/Address"</li>
<li>Give the Action a name, e.g. "AccessIbm Button"</li>
<li>Go to the "trigger" tab, click on the button and press the "Access IBM" key. If the caption changed, you can succeed, else retry</li>
<li>Go to the action tab and type /usr/bin/konsole into the text field</li>
<li>Click "Apply"</li>
</ul>Now you're done! Press the "Access IBM" key to test it and have fun ;)<br />
From what I've seen you also can assign dbus signals, keystrokes(keyboard macro functions!) , etc. just play around with it a bit.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-71985767753849175922011-01-20T01:45:00.004+01:002011-02-11T03:41:50.649+01:00Ireland day 1: Dublin (part 3) - Dublin at NightIn this post, I will mostly let pictures talk and maybe say only a few words on single ones. Most of them are bridges, which are illuminated by green light from below.Looks really beautiful, doesn't it?<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UvTvWa6D6RP8zw_2bIJqOQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5FUDBbCGI/AAAAAAAADwU/_9bRVSH3b98/s400/DSC02751.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Custom House at Night</div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/e8_XGEOa-XfuFguYWF4ErQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5Ei0n3b_I/AAAAAAAADuo/s7HiUN8lDJU/s400/DSC02723.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Millenium Bridge</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rjgO1lIY4w9rnrHEC4_MMg?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EphJIbiI/AAAAAAAADu8/llX0B72EHjk/s400/DSC02727.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
Temple Bar</div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2YH5SMIxQ1qFHBdOpjDETw?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EyuJklmI/AAAAAAAADvQ/sAlVq7ZLDpU/s400/DSC02733.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Millenium Bridge and Capel St Bridge</div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/U6MQIqVXWINgk1Req4Nwrg?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5E2jxVfQI/AAAAAAAADvY/tU7Vp0XQcdQ/s400/DSC02735.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Half Penny Bridge</div>Before the Ha'penny Bridge was built there were seven ferries, operated by a William Walsh, across the Liffey. The ferries were in a bad condition and Walsh was informed that he had to either fix them or build a bridge. Walsh chose the latter option and was granted the right to extract a ha'penny toll from anyone crossing it for 100 years. Initially the toll charge was based, not on the cost of construction, but to match the charges levied by the ferries it replaced. A further condition of construction was that, if the citizens of Dublin found the bridge and toll to be "objectionable" within its first year of operation, it was to be removed at no cost to the city.<br />
The toll was increased for a time to a Penny Ha'penny (one and a half pence), but was eventually dropped in 1919. While the toll was in operation, there were turnstiles at either end the bridge. (Quote <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha'penny_Bridge" target="_blank">from Wikipedia</a>, thx!)<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XCcqKn7-2qrB_naaYL4dYQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5E73pzLxI/AAAAAAAADvk/LNU53KckagI/s400/DSC02740.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rIDnaTMnUKtqYKF1x-kppA?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5E_30Z-WI/AAAAAAAADvs/noSOI_HUVPs/s400/DSC02742.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RUerdAkXHmn3QAbWZ9mMXA?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5FGC9Fk6I/AAAAAAAADv4/rfj1NsIKHUk/s400/DSC02745.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
The Spire at night</div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/D68YGeCahk2_RX8NDQmHtA?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5Fkj5UMwI/AAAAAAAADww/mSWxjdZ_TL8/s400/DSC02761.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Samuel Beckett Bridge</div><br />
Last but not least I found this one:<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/199Pgruwy3TWjKNdFg-8xg?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5FEQYJ6mI/AAAAAAAADv0/NpUXXKpP6rw/s400/DSC02744.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>To me it is - of course - a geek joke. The famous Apache web server once was called Leviathan. Leaviathan was a really buggy piece of software which required patching the code a lot. So finally it is said they called it "A patchy web server", from which the Apache emerged. If that is the true story is the other side of the coin...<br />
I just wondered what Apache Pizza might sell? Pieces of pizza patched together? Maybe they sew them :P<br />
<br />
<a href="http://burnysblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ireland-day-2-dublin-bay.html">Read about my second Day in Dublin, this time at Dublin Bay</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-52173408271388336652011-01-19T23:52:00.008+01:002011-02-01T10:14:35.750+01:00Ireland day 1: Dublin (part 2)So, finally I got some spare time to write the rest of the Ireland series and the photos are all uploaded now, too.<br />
The Historical Walking Tour started at the front of Trinity College. After walking through the front gates we had a look at the wonderful courtyard and the <br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3MjhPv2TN0HvuLmttTR-ZQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5D-xmXxhI/AAAAAAAADtQ/WhHrrwTmyLo/s400/DSC02702.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a><p>A part of the Trinity College courtyard*</p></div>He told us some interesting stuff about the college's history, but I can't remember anymore, too bad!<br />
Here is some nice photo of the Library Square:<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3d4A8u0iJhpIrJL07d6X7g?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EFRm34oI/AAAAAAAADtg/_kPOFBGQ9Fo/s400/DSC02706.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a><p>Libary Square*</p></div>Trinity College had a lot of famous students, like Oscar Wilde, and also is - from what I understood - much involved in the Irish history and the history of dublin. For more details, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College_(Dublin)" target="_blank">have a look at Wikipedia</a>.<br />
Walking back to the front gate, you can find <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Houses_of_Parliament" target="_blank">the Irish Houses of Parliament</a>, which now inherits the Bank of Ireland.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YPQEurDOC5uWuxoqwvsgyw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EITL5AWI/AAAAAAAADto/FpqSLXLifUQ/s400/DSC02708.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a><p>Irish Houses of Parliament</p></div>The Houses of Parliament served as the seat of both the Lords and Commons chambers of the Irish parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland for most of the 18th century. The parliament was abolished by the Act of Union of 1800, when the island became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. <br />
Basically, the purpose of the Parliament back then wasto collect the taxes for Great Britain and it was - according to Donnell - one of the most corrupt parliaments in the world. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poyning's_Law" target="_blank">(read more)</a><br />
As you can see, the building has no windows. Donnell told us that is is because there has been a tax on windows, so they shutted all of them to save money.<br />
<br />
After the ex-Irish Parliament, we went to an old police station, I'll let the pictures talk.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VQ8gprW28OGI97Fbh2ZWxw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5D7-sLaHI/AAAAAAAADtI/FcZK0kn5_l4/s400/DSC02700.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Old police station*</p></div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Oa3nefOc0iZt4c-IpXhnvA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EPHdpI7I/AAAAAAAADt8/GqkO0TS9s8w/s400/DSC02712.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Entrance with some policemen heads on both sides</p></div>Then we passed by a station of the Dublin Fire Brigade with its tower, where the firehoses are being dried since ages. We were told some interesting and funny things about its history and its up to you to do the tour yourself to find out ;)<br />
Finally, we arrived a O'Connell Street, which can't be overseen because of its <a href="http://www.thespire.ie/" target="_blank">gigantonormous metal Spire</a>.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TRPJxWyW_eA3nF87tro84g?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5ESPQc25I/AAAAAAAADuE/jZ8JctmAVPM/s400/DSC02714.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>The Spire with the Jim Larkin statue in foreground</p></div>Until 8th March 1966 there has been standing the Nelson Pillar, but the IRA decided to blow it in half at 1:27.<br />
Nelson Pillar has been about 141 meters or 134 feet and 3 inches tall, so it has been a real landmark for over 158 years. Unlike The Spire it was accessible to everyone and I guess you had a wonderful view over Dublin from the top of it.<br />
<div class="preview right"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BwyKeazKDDYJTFDOEBV_AA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5FKrzMVSI/AAAAAAAADwA/uGkoNz-i3PY/s288/DSC02747.jpg" height="288" width="216" /></a><p>Illuminated tip</p></div>The Spire is 134 meters tall(as I am a physician, I love <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units">SI-Units</a>), which is 404 feet(or HTTP "Not Found" :P) and the diameter is 3 m at its base and 15 cm at the tip. The steel needle weighs 126 tons and its illumination at the tip can be see beyond Dublin Bay. It is stabilized by some buffer, so the tip only fluctuates 1.50 meters. Maybe they did it like in the Taipeh and put some giant steel ball hanging on ropes into it, I don't know.<br />
The Statue shows <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Larkin" targat="_blank">James Larkin</a> which played a major role in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Lockout" target="_blank">Dublin Lockout</a>.<br />
In this major industrial dispute, beetween 20,000 workers and 300 employers fought a dispute for the labors right to uninionize. Taking place in dublin it lasted from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, and is often viewed as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. I really recommend you to read the Wikipedia article, because it is very interesting!<br />
Our tour guide pointed out the various bullet holes in the O'Connell monument, which was very interesting.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Wh7d7DNw9xylVI-nejnsgg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EThKC4iI/AAAAAAAADuI/gb32na-1slA/s400/DSC02715.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Bullet hole from the fights on O'Connell Street</p></div><div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kwQPTWBJ6nylSP66X0kAFQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EVPmqT6I/AAAAAAAADuM/Rg-iuKFKDbI/s400/DSC02716.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Daniel O'Connell monument</p></div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_O%E2%80%99Connell" target="_blank">Daniel O'Connell</a>(6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847) was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century. He campaigned for the right of Catholics to sit in the Westminister Parliament, which has been denied to them for over 100 years and to repeal the Act of Union which combined Ireland and Great Britain.<br />
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After O'Connell Streeet, we went to Temple Bar, which is a place you definitely have to visit. Unlike the name lets one assume, it is a street, not a real bar - but a pretty large one.There you can find for example the Palace Bar, which was established in 1843 and is one of the oldest pubs still in business today. It was very popular because of the Irish Times journalists and - in 1900's - people like Flann O'Brien, W.B. Yeats and Patrick Kavanagh sitting there.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/B3wToobT5cwA9fLrkKBNHQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EX6Db_AI/AAAAAAAADuQ/j6buj0NgT38/s400/DSC02717.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Palace Bar</p></div>If you are looking for some nice place to go and maybe have a Guinness or two, Temple Bar is your first address. Besides you also have a lot of street musicians and funny (drunk) poeple there :D<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aTdU1EN4hCCeW_v3LWjhUQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5EeIfXdxI/AAAAAAAADuc/16s-Zo6pQqE/s400/DSC02720.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p></p></div>If no pub, restaurant or bar works for you, the Hard Rock Cafe Dublin is still left.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Phxml5zka5RUoAzMhVKsdw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5Eb_V_LfI/AAAAAAAADuY/H4-DJpV-0no/s400/DSC02719.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Hard Rock Cafe Dublin</p></div>Temple Bar nearly directly leads to Christs Church which looks more ancient than it is.<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0hWDhOI_y7vjn5l_3pBmvA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5Ef8xk1gI/AAAAAAAADug/VmDgGezcdww/s400/DSC02721.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><p>Christs Church</p></div>The tour went on to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Castle" target="_blank">Dublin Castle</a>. The cameras battery was empty and my brain flooded with impressions so I'm sorry I cannot show it to you or tell any details myself. But using the Wikipedia link above you will find some nice and shiny pictures plus some very interesting information.<br />
<br />
At evening I got hungry so I went back to Temple Bar for something to eat.<br />
If you are looking for dinner, I would strongly recommend you to go there before or about 19 o'clock, because there are many restaurants and bars offering so-called "early bird" menus. They usually consists of three courses where you can choose between two or more entrees, main courses and desserts each for max. 15 €.<br />
This was the first time in my life I ate Irish stew, which is basically soup made of lamb, carrots, potatoes onions and parsley. I really can recommend you that, the lamb was so soft that it felt dissolving on your tongue like chocolate :-9<br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zlkEeWXRsZNd0cHQAOOyvA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5Enhxe5YI/AAAAAAAADu0/Ga9_sqGkE4A/s400/DSC02726.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a><p>Irish Stew, really tasty!</p></div><br />
In <a href="http://burnysblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/ireland-day-1-dublin-part-3-dublin-at.html">my next post in part 3</a>, I will show you Dublin at night and I promise it will be beautiful and funny the same time!<br />
<br />
Further links:<br />
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay1ArrivalAtDublin#">Album on PicasaWeb</a><br />
<small><br />
All pictures shown in this post are licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative commons by-nc-sa 3.0 Germany</a> license. © by Tobias Brennecke, Remscheid 2010</small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-40423830538265131242010-09-29T23:11:00.012+02:002011-02-01T10:14:35.751+01:00Ireland day 1: Dublin (part 1)So here I am now, in Dublin.<br />
Flight was relatively relaxed, only few turbolences. I was a bit nervous before departure that I have forgotten something important so I would be taken off the plane in the last minutes, but everything went fine.<br />
Isa recommended the three days ticket by <a href="http://dublinbus.ie/">DublinBus</a>, the local public transport company, because I'll move to her tomorrow. I had some issues with the ticket's RFID chip, it was damaged so it could not be read. Luckily the bus from the airport(line 747) has its first stop at O'Connell Street, directly on the opposite side of Dublinbus headquarters and exchange was quite easily.<br />
You have the possibility to get a "Freedom of Dublin" ticket for 24 € for adults and 13 or 14 euros for Students. With that ticket you can go on the dublinbus sightseeing and normal bus lines and drop off at any place you like. However, all desired places can also be reached by foot easily, so in my eyes you should think about it twice. As the ticket is valid for 3 days like mine (I paid 13.50 € without the sightseeing feature) it is only worth if you either want sightseeing by bus or go to the outer regions.<br />
After arrival I went to <a href="http://www.timeshostels.com/" target="_blank">"The Times Hostel"</a>, which is a footstep away from Trinity College. On my way there I passed the O'Connel Bridge, which is wider than it is large.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="preview"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E6Igdu45eryAEo6gd9UhWA?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="216" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lz7RP5aT-aQ/TK5D6r6x6vI/AAAAAAAADtE/o-J5e-2TC54/s288/DSC02699.jpg" width="288" /></a><br />
O'Connell Bridge*</div>The hostel building is not the newest, but the rooms are in a good condition, matraces soft and the bathroom looks clean, so it is more like a hotel than a hostel, you got free breakfast from somewhat 7 to 10.30 am. Due to its central location one footstep away from Trinity College and the bed prices starting from 15 €/night I would recommend it to you by 100%!<br />
I wanted to take the <a href="http://historicalinsights.ie/">"Histical Walking Tour"</a> near Trinity College front gate at 15 o'clock, but I confused my cell phone with the different time zones so I was an hour too early. Oh what's that? An exhibition about the "Book of Kells" and some old library. Nine Euros entrance fee...uhm just try it.<br />
Be warned! The "Book of Kells" part is not worth the boards it is presented on! The show on videos how books are made, bore you with stuff one already should know(such as Lapislazuli stones are used for blue color) and at the end section -bohoo- a "Book of Kells" is presented under a glass hood which is clearly a fake. The used cow leather to make those books in ancient times, but the pages there looked a bit too smooth and shiny. Plus you can see the ink dots, so it's just a re-print. I asked the "History Walking Tour Guide", Donnell(means Daniel) and he confirmed.<br />
The second part was quite interesting. After going upstairs you end up in a long floor with book shelves over two floors on each side. The shelves were about 4 meters high each and contained some really ancient-looking books. In parallel, some books were presented in glass boxes which were partly interesting.<br />
It really smelled of old wood and books, the way you would expect for an older library. On some boards, the history of british troops in india is being presented, but I only overflew them, knowing I wouldn't be able to keep the facts in mind either.<br />
So from my opinion it would be worth 4 Euro for visiting that library, but not 8! Daniel does warn tourists about this cheating, too.<br />
So time was running out and I went back to the meeting point.<br />
<br />
My laptops accu is going empty, too, so this will follow in another post among with some nice pictures :)<br />
If I may take one word ahead, that tour gets 11 of 10 possible points, it was really great, especially because it only costs 10 €!<br />
<br />
By the way: Donnell said there is no public toilet in Dublin and I only can confirm that, what a shame! Oh and he told me about this one: <a href="http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dail-gates-blocked-by-truck-2357289.html" target="_blank">Dail gates blocked by truck</a><br />
Actually the whole cty talked about that. That man is a real hero, how would that end if it had happened in Germany?<br />
<small>* The linked picture is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons by-nc-sa Germany license</a>. See <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/t.burny/IrelandDay1ArrivalAtDublin#">my Album on PicasaWeb for details</a></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-63842897478497754802010-09-27T00:42:00.001+02:002011-02-01T10:14:35.752+01:00Holidays in IrelandReadings free time at University Dortmund is nearly over, it ends on 10th of October, but I still had to take some of the holidays from work, so I decided to spend part of the time into a one-week-trip to Dublin and Leixlip, a small town in County Kildare, Ireland.<br />
<br />
Let me mention I never made such a trip before. Of course I've been traveling by plane a few times, but always with friends or family. Now I'm flying alone the first time, to a country I rarely know except from the news or wikipedia. I'm not scared, in contrary! I'm exptremly curious what I will experience and a bit nervous, to be honest.<br />
So, I'll take the plane from Frankfurt Hahn Airport here in Germany to Dublin at 29th September and come back on 5th October. I'll stay one day at a hostel somewhere there,for approx. 15-20 € a night. I only once slept in a hostel before (in Munich) and I guess this will be interesting ;)<br />
<br />
From Thursday on Isa, an Au-pair and good friend which I know from my old school, invited me to spend the rest of the days at her. She is a really kind, funny and lovely person(you know, that kind you can phone with five or more hours at a time and never get enough) so I'm very happy that we will finally meet again after 2.5 years :)<br />
<br />
<br />
I don't really know what exactly will expect me either in Dublin or in Leixlip at Isa, so I'm very curious about all this holiday thing.<br />
From what I guess Isa and me will have a lot of fun, because we have a lot of things in common, so I am very glad we have contact again since a few weeks.<br />
We will see :)<br />
<br />
Well a few things I know fore sure: In Leixlip it will be about 10-15°C outside temperature, with wind and rain, Guinness beer(I can't get enough of this wonderful stuff!) and the mysteries of different kinds of whiskey which will reqire some personal research, including an intensive case study...<br />
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Hopefully I get the opportunity to post some pictures and experiences omy f trip in here, so hang on!<br />
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Cheers,<br />
TobiUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-44086047983186520322010-09-03T23:32:00.001+02:002011-01-20T04:12:17.633+01:00Going AdSense-freeHello everybody,<br />
some of the best ideas you can get by just cycling.<br />
So while cycling home, I thought about my blog, what to write and about the adverts, too.<br />
When I started blogging, I thought it would be a good idea if people can show they like my blog by clicking one of the adverts. The point is, this did (expectedly) not work out for me and to be honest, I like your personal feedback more than any money.<br />
Plus, I discovered AdSense and Google Friend Connect lets the page load in about 6 seconds and I hate nothing more than slow web pages.<br />
So, to protect your privacy and improving your reading experience I removed all adverts from the page. Now it takes 3 seconds with Firefox and 0.5 with Chromium.<br />
If you love my blog, just feel free to leave me a message or comment, you'd make me very happy by doing so. Nevertheless if you think you cannot be thankful enough, just feel free to <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/wishlist/1PM3KYAV8R4JN">have a look at my whishlist on Amazon</a> :)<br />
<br />
Hopefully you are now able to really enjoy reading this blog, plus I have a little candy for you: You will not have to wait much longer for the next post, only a couple of days maybe!<br />
So just have a visit here from time to time or directly grab the RSS feed from the right column :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-90919996406349557432010-09-02T22:40:00.001+02:002011-01-20T04:17:14.463+01:00Upgrading to KDE SC 4.5Recently KDE SC 4.5 came out and as I always try live on the cutting edge of software, I tried to update it which first ran me into the fact KPackageKit wouldn't update half of the whole KDE.<br />
I found out by some googling(shame this became a verb! <a href="http://uk.forestle.org/">Forestling</a> should become one...) that the reason is that the kubuntu-ppa might contain older packages than kubuntu backports, so the solution was to just disable all source which were no kubuntu archives.<br />
For upgrading just add <br />
<code>deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/backports/ubuntu lucid main <br />
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/backports/ubuntu lucid main</code><br />
into /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubuntu-backports-ppa using your favourite editor or KPackageKit and run sudo update apt-get update (KPackageKit does that for you automatically).<br />
<br />
If you are lucky you just have to run <br />
<code>sudo apt-get update<br />
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade</code><br />
If this does not work for you, just try alternating those two, eventually with the -f parameter until everything is installed and then reboot.<br />
<br />
I discovered today that the ibus package wasn't installed, too so I installed it and run ibus-setup. We will see what that brings :)<br />
KDE SC 4.5 runs a bit smoother, but sometimes it consumes peaks of 20% of the 1.8 GHz CPU of my T42p (which is still a good laptop :) ).<br />
Have fun!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-44240761640929454442010-07-01T21:01:00.000+02:002011-01-20T04:17:14.464+01:00On a short word: Printing using an LPT port over networkRecently I damaged the JetDirect card of my HP LaserJet 4050, because I accidentally drawed the network cable in the wrong direction, so the plastic cap an the card holding the cap broke off.<br />
As a new card costs about 20-30 Euro, which I as a poor student simply do not have, I had to solve the problem otherwise. I discovered that my desktop computer doesn't have a LPT port anymore, but the laptop does. So I alwas printed using that laptop.<br />
Now I thought, why don't access the printer via network, as the laptop is running all the time? So, to do it as easy as possible I simply installed samba, uncommented some lines in /etc/samba/smb.conf, hacked some 'restart smbd' in the terminal (the Samba start script was switched to upstart) and just selected the now shared printer on my desktop pc (which runs on Win 7 again -.-).<br />
Plus now I can easily exchange files between laptop and desktop pc. Horray!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-33327389177249119362010-06-06T19:29:00.000+02:002011-01-20T04:17:14.465+01:00Upgrading the T42p to Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04 LTS)A week or so ago I upgraded my IBM ThinkPad T42p(which is a very good laptop for a (now) very fair price of ~400 Euro on ebay) to Ubuntu Lucid.<br />
Upgrade ran quite easily although the upgrade application had some visual bugs, but everything harmless. I hadn't enough space left on the first try, so it was time to delete some "garbage" applications (a good moment to do so :)). A big minus was that you cannot leave the installation unattended because sometimes windows pop up asking regarding this or that package. Okay in a way this makes sense, but why isn't the installations first simulated? The user could be asked for decisions which are then remembered to go through the upgrade process silently...<br />
<br />
Well, after everything was done, I rebooted. I counted from splash screen on and didn't came to 10 until the login screen showed up.<br />
<br />
First thing I discovered was that the backlight was dark and if setting to maximum via function keys, it went dark again after a while. Luckily I'm not the only one with this issue. Found a temporary fix on some ubuntu forum and everything is fine again now :) I also removed the PPA version of Firefox and Thunderbird to install the stable ones(much better regarding Firefox - I once had to use Opera for 3 weeks!) and everything is running fine again :)<br />
I even discovered that Rhythmbox is a very good and nice replacement for Wine + Foobar 2000 (which runs nicely but has no "from system to playlist" file drag & drop). One thing it lacks of is silence skipping.<br />
In foobar there is a plugin where pieces of a track are skipped if they are below a volume level (e.g. -48 dB) for a certian time, which is really useful for tinier DJ-ing. You can put a 10 seconds crossfade and a 3 Second silence detection for below said -48 dB and foobar could become a good replacement of a hundred bucks audio software for smaller parties.<br />
<br />
Next thing to do is to extend the home partition on LVM, it is running out of space with no chance to save some any more....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-36932669730300304872010-05-12T18:22:00.000+02:002011-02-01T10:14:35.753+01:00Amplifiers and ground loopsIn the students home where I lived, a bar was openened yesterday and I had to put some professional audio equipment there which I lend from a good friend of mine. It was a very big success and my first time I was the DJ, but people sung and danced 8-)<br />
Because the whole equipment, means the amp rack, 2 top speakers and one huge subwoofer of exactly the size of an <a en.wikipedia.org="" ground_loop_%28electricity%29="" href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40104270%3EIKEA%20%22Lack%22%20table%3C/a%3E%20was%20in%20my%20room%20until%20then%20and%20now%20it%20still%20is,%20I%20plugged%20it%20into%20my%20PC%20and%20heard%20some%20ugly%20buzzing.%20When%20unplugging%20the%20mixer%20from%20my%20PC,%20it%20vanished.%20Googling%20gave%20me%20the%20solution:%20A%20%3Ca%20href=" http:="" title="ground loop" wiki="">ground loop</a>. I assume my computers power supply unit is responsible for that (its been actually 20 Euros, which was really cheap for 420 Watts some years ago).<br />
Today I luckily found a very nice solution around this issue: My work laptop does not produce a ground loop, so it is predestinated for a PC to amplifier rack connection. On my main PC I use foobar2000 (there is no good linux alternative and sadly, I'm on windows again for some reason). So I found <a href="http://www.oddsock.org/tools/edcast/" title="edcast">edcast</a> which is capable of streaming to Shoutcast and IceCast from foobar(it's actually a DSP plugin). Because I hate Winamp and Icecast is OSS, I used the latter. Now it nicely streams my foobar playlists to the VLC media player of the laptop. Theres a control delay of about 5 seconds, but regarding the point that the audio gets ogg encoded and VLC buffers 1200 ms, I'm really fine with that.<br />
Now the whole students home has to listen to the music I like, it is <b>very</b> loud in my room now. I even changed my IM status message to "Students home now listening to [track] by [artist]"...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-58067458823922479702010-04-13T23:30:00.000+02:002011-01-20T04:17:14.465+01:00Goodbye Windows, welcome KubuntuYesterday I discovered that my Windows 7 RC1 reboots all 2 hours(which I already had expected) and there was a Kubuntu 9.10 CD lying on my desktop. As I successfully use it on my company's laptop with no issues, I decided its the right time to install it for my private everyday use, too.<br />
Said and done. But after installing the nvidia drivers plus a dist-upgrade, KDE won't show anymore and I discovered it was not 64-Bit. Jens recommended me to try Kubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04 beta 2) and now I am a really happy and satisfied Kubuntu user.<br />
The installation process itself was quite laggy, but finally it worked fine, including current Firefox and Thunderbird (yeah, finally 3.0). Before I did anything other, I searched for proprietary graphics drivers (for my NDVIA card) via the "Hardware Drivers" utitly of KDE. Surpise, surprise, everything already set up and running fine! WLAN - no problem. Sound over S/PDIF - no problem(just push up the digital device in Multimedia settings for all media types).<br />
When it came to S/PDIF for VideoLAN player, it costed me some time, but finally I just tried setting the sampling frequency to 48000 and it worked fine again :)<br />
Then a pidgin here, a KsCD there, all fine.<br />
I even installed a really cool game called Kobo Deluxe (a 2D space shooter) which ran without any issues!<br />
<br />
It came me into mind that the (K)ubuntu logo, the <a href="http://wiki.ubuntu.org.cn/images/a/ab/Qref_Kubuntu_Logo.png">nice-looking ring</a>, could be a wedding ring: Once you get first familiar and then married with Ubuntu Linux, you won't be able to betray it - it's just to awesome to really going back to windows :D<br />
Besides Windows 7 costs about 85 Euro for Home Premium with nearly no usable software(okay except Media Center maybe) and with Ubuntu (and other Linux distributions) you can get everything for free, can take a look at the source, report bugs which are quickly solved in most cases and there's so many free software available in places where the appropiate windows replacement would cost hundreds of dollars. Just think about The GIMP vs. Adobe Photoshop...<br />
<br />
Just COOOL! 8-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-22401662635073217912010-04-08T21:31:00.000+02:002010-04-08T21:41:34.964+02:00Combo.fm or how I learned to really love last.fmIn a recent post I wrote about the new client and combo stations(plus some technical details in the last one).<br/><br/>
What is a combo station? A combination of last.fm radio stations, which are coonnectable by using "and", "or" and "not" (plus some nifty extra options, I'll come back to that point later on).<br/><br/>
As it took always a very long time to create those combo station urls by hand, I wrote a nice application(which seems to be stable, but also may contain bugs). So I'd like to introduce you into <strong>Combo.fm</strong>, as I call it. Written in pure Java, using NetBeans(too bad it's not eclipse, but NB has the better GUI creator :P) and the best thing: GPL license(with the restriction of <strong>non-commercial use</strong>) and source included :) Note that the Last.fm API bindings for Java by <a href="http://last.fm/user/JRoar">JRoar</a> are used, you can also obtain a fresh copy from <a href="http://code.google.com/p/lastfm-java/">http://code.google.com/p/lastfm-java/</a><br/><br/>
But I guess you came here because you want to listen to combo stations, so click the link below<small>(sorry for hosting on RS, had no better place atm)</small>:<br/><br/>
<font style="font-size:1.5em;"><a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/373543611/Combofm.zip">Download Combo.fm</a></font><br/><br/>
You can run it via "java -jar ComboFm.jar" from the ComboFm/dist/ folder from your OS console. (Hopefully a linux distibution :P)<br/><br/>
<strong>For Windows users:</strong><br/>
<ol>
<li>Create a file named "runComboFm.cmd" inside the folder to where you unextracted Combo.fm</li>
<li>Open it with Notepad(right click -> Open With -> > Notepad/Editor)</li>
<li>Paste the following code:<blockquote>@echo off<br/>java -jar ComboFm/dist/ComboFm.jar<br/></blockquote></li>
<li>Save file, close Notepad and run the file by double-clicking on it.</li>
<li>Have fun ;) </li>
</ol>
If I'm on windows again, I'll add a starter app :)<br/><br/>
<strong style="font-size:1.2em;">Usage instructions</strong><br/>
Basically you just select a station type on the top left, select or type a value at the combo box beneath and hit "Add->". If you want to change the logical connector, you can just select the station on the right from the list box and select another(like 'and' or 'not'). Thereby, you can ignore the 'or' of the last item(tiny UI bug, doesn't affect the result).
Don't worry if you added a station by mistake, you can just hit "Remove" to remove the selected station from the list.<br/>
Now let's concern with the sliders and the checkbox at the middle left.<br>
<strong>Mainstream</strong> controls the amount obscure/mainstream music you want to listen to(left = 100% obscure, right = 100% mainstream). Setting this to 100% obscure will result in an interesting station.<br/><ul>
<li><strong>Repetition</strong> steers the repetition rate of the artists.</li>
<li><strong>Discovery</strong> switches discovery mode on or off.</li></ul>
Now just click one of the 'Copy' buttons.<br><br/>
<strong>Web browser url:</strong>Paste direcly in your browser's address bar and hit return.<br/>
<strong>Radio client url:</strong>Listen to the station with your favourite Last.fm client.For desktop client, paste the url in the text box of the player's start screen(where you tune into stations) an hit play.<br/><br/>
My Personal opinion is that combo stations drastically improve the listening experience of the Last.fm radio, even if you only play with the sliders you can listen to very awesome tracks you didn't knew yet or of which you forgot the name a very long time ago. Good Job, Last.fm. I really love it!<br/><br/>
And to you, dear reader:<br>
Happy listening! I hope you enjoy Combo.fm right in these minutes.<br/><br/>
<small>Note: Combo stations is a pre-alpha feature of Last.fm, so you take the consequences if you use Combo.fm for listening to these stations! I am <strong>not</strong> responsible for what you do and cannot take any risks resulting in the usage of Combo.fm.</small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-47222137356747969342010-04-08T20:20:00.002+02:002011-06-16T19:49:30.703+02:00Combo station urlsIn this blog post I'll tell you how to create Last.fm combo station urls. <a href="http://last.fm/">Last.fm</a> station urls always start with "lastfm://". For combo station urls, an example might look like <br />
<blockquote>lastfm://rql/dGFnOnBvcCBub3Qgc2ltYXJ0OiJMYWR5IEdhZ2Ei</blockquote>See that long character string after rql/ ? That is just simple Base64 encoding and RQL means "Radio Query Language". If you'd use a decoder like <a href="http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp">this one</a>,it will decode to <br />
<blockquote>tag:<a href="http://last.fm/listen/globaltag/pop">pop</a> not simart:"<a href="http://last.fm/music/Lady%20Gaga">Lady Gaga</a>"</blockquote>So, there are key-value pairs and logical connectors (valid ones are 'and', 'or' and 'not'). The above query means "play everything in direction of 'pop' tag, but not Lady Gaga's similiar artists". I think you got the idea...<br />
The point I did not mention yet is that there are some nice options available. Let's change our query a bit: <br />
<blockquote>tag:pop not simart:"Lady Gaga" opt:mainstr|0.55 opt:rep|0.6 opt:discovery|true</blockquote>Huh? Lots of opt(ions)! mainstr stands for "Maintream", where the value range is from 0-1(0% to 100%). The less the value, the more unknown artists will occur in your station. Same goes for rep(etition), but in this case you can control the artist(or track?) repetition rate. I think "discovery" is kind of self-explanatory(discovery mode on/off). Here you got a nice table with names, values and descriptions: <br />
<table><thead>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Value</th><th>Description</th></tr>
</thead> <tbody>
<tr><td>user</td><td>[username]</td><td>personal station</td></tr>
<tr><td>library</td><td>[username]</td><td>a users library</td></tr>
<tr><td><del>loved</del></td><td>[username]</td><td>loved tracks of user. <strong>After Nov 17 2010 this station is not available anymore!</strong></td></tr>
<tr><td>rec</td><td>[username]</td><td>recommendations for a user</td></tr>
<tr><td>neigh</td><td>[username]</td><td>neighbour radio of user</td></tr>
<tr><td><del>ptag</del></td><td>[tag of user]<b>|</b>[username]</td><td>Personal tag radio of a user. The '|' is NO or!. <strong>After Nov 17 2010 this station is not available anymore!</strong></td></tr>
<tr><td><del>playlist</del></td><td>[playlist-id]</td><td>A playlist station. Use user.getPlaylist API call to get playlist id's of a user's playlist. <strong>After Nov 17 2010 this station is not available anymore!</strong></td></tr>
<tr><td>adv</td><td>[username]</td><td>Play a user's mix radio.</td></tr>
<tr><td>simart</td><td>"[artist name]"</td><td>Similiar artists of an artist. Keep the quotes around.</td></tr>
<tr><td>tag</td><td>[tag]</td><td>Global tag radio</td></tr>
<tr><td>group</td><td>"Group Name" or [groupid]</td><td>Group radio</td></tr>
<tr><td>opt:rep|</td><td>[0-1](default: 0.5)</td><td>Specifies the track repetition, means how long it will take until the track is played again</td></tr>
<tr><td>opt:mainstr|</td><td>[0-1] (default: 0.5)</td><td>Type of tracks played(obscure to popular)</td></tr>
<tr><td>opt:discovery|</td><td>[true|false] (default: false)</td><td>Discovery mode on/off</td> </tr>
<tr></tr>
</tbody></table>Note that the options are all optional and thus have a default value. Connect name and value with a ':', <b>except for the opt: values</b>. If a value contains a space, it <b>must</b> be enclosed with double-quotes(""). <b>Known Issues</b> <br />
<ul><li>Discovery mode is subscribers only.</li>
<li>In the Base64 RFC specification there is a space after 76 characters in the encoded string. Apparently the web and the desktop client cannot handle this space, so you have to remove it and everything will work fine.</li>
</ul>Have fun with constructing the urls and implementing it in your app!<br />
Very much thanks to <a href="http://www.last.fm/user/nova77LF">Norman (nova77LF)</a>(glorious creator of the Radio Query Language) for clarification on some points :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7482617151459393460.post-46995419996660496002010-03-28T18:44:00.000+02:002011-02-01T10:14:35.754+01:00In short: The advantage of no powerIn the second week of this month I went to munich again, because working together in the office with Jens and Manuel is much more fun than sitting there alone.<br />
Somehow I forgot that USB-cable I usually use to charge my cell phone, so it ran out of battery after a few days. Since then I was very astonished how I good I can live without it. The reason for this might be that mainly used my cell phone as a (alarm )clock with telephone/SMS functions. First I used KAlarm to wake me up with my favourite music, but this wasn't very energy friendly(okay I want a beach right in front of my appartment in Dortmund, but not THAT fast :P), so I bought a normal alarm clock which can receive the time signal of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCF77">atomic clock in Frankfurt</a>(its signal range is over 1500 km, so you might be able to receive it as well). Purpose was that if I travel around putting batteries in and out, I didn't want to have to set the current time each time and it costed about 8 € which is a fair price.<br />
<br />
Since the batterys got no power, I do have it, means total control over when I want to call, to whom and so on.<br />
This is real freedom! I just love it :)<br />
Maybe I should buy a wristwatch and put the cell phone away (nearly) forever...(and the secret services would not be able to trace me anymore....big brother is watching you ;) )Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0