Apart from learningto play the harmonica, this is what I’ve been doing for the last few days: continuing development on Cate and I’d like to announce that version 2.1 is now ready.
What is Cate?
Cate is a free customer database system using PHP+mySQL. It’s for storing customer information
and providing customers with online services. Cate’s code is quite portable so it can
basicly be combined with any other webapplication, eg. an online webshop, gallery,
ordering system or similar.
Who is it for?
Cate is mainly aimed at web developers looking for a way to quickly add customer database
functionality to their system.
Anyone interested in this, feel free to download. More about it can be found in the README. Cate is FREE and open source. You can use it and alter it all you want. If you do, however, plan to make tons of money from it somehow I could use some of that money
Vista is here, we all knew that. I was even thinking about buying it but then I read about Microsofts license policys which are outrageous! I can’t believe we customers are just going to swallow that kind of treatment! So I decided to stick it to the man.
Of course, sticking it to the man is never that easy. Vista needs to be activated by an authorized serial key within 30 days of it’s installation. There is a crack which makes it possible to extend that period to 120 days but after that time you’re dead in the water. You either need to reinstall it or go buy it - that’s the bottom line. There are some cracks out there on the net but I’ve gotten none of them to work.
Reaching that deadily 120 mark isn’t however the end of the line, it turns out. I found out that even when Vista presents you with an “activate me or die” window at startup there’s still a way to get normal funtionality back.
When you’re promted for the activation you can choose the option “Access your computer with reduced funtionality”. When you choose it, your default webbrowser starts (in my case it’s Firefox). Now choose “open file” in the file menu. In the window that pops up now (your normal Vista file browser) write explorer in the address bar and hit enter. The normal vista UI loads up and your computer is ready to go! The only thing that seems to be limiting is the fact that you can’t turn of the “Windows Activation” window. If you do, you will be logged out of Vista.
1. Choose “Acces your computer with reduced functionality”
2. Select “open file” in the webbrowser
3. Write “explorer” in the addressbar and hit enter
There you have it! Now let’s all start sticking it to the man… Or get Linux
One would think that all this fancy modern technology we have today would not only bring crappy webcam videos on YouTube to the people, but also say, make rigging elections and cheating in politics more difficult? Most major software companies today put millions on making computing safer and fiddling with computer systems more difficult - but that doesn’t really mean squat when some key systems in the US for example are still not protected enough. Systems that should be protected because their safety can be decisive importance for the future of one of the most powerful countries today and indeed the whole world.
Ok, so we all now that Bush jr. got into office by rigging the elections back in 2000. It was so obvious that many people all over the world were outraged at how a country forcing democracy on the rest of the world wouldn’t even be able to conduct fair elections itself. But somehow the cheater remained at his post. In 2004 it was time again. By this time everyone knew that the elections weren’t going to be fair and indeed the cheating was done more discreet this time. So again, people didn’t care… at least not enough. But what many people don’t know even today is how close it really was! By slightly over dramatizing one could say that the US presidential election in 2004 was decided by little more than 500 votes.
Composer Thomas Newman is widely known for his soundtracks used in such awesome movies as American Dream and Finding Nemo, and series like Six Feet Under. His music is great not only because it ties beautifully to the actual visuals and story, but because you can also listen to them as they are. It’s simply wonderful music to listen to.
But there’s another composer who deserves to be added to the same (rare) category as Newman. And that is Bear McCreary. His most notable work is in the completely awesome Sci Fi series Battlestar Galactica, ie the remake of it. If you haven’t seen an episode from BSG yet them it’s you I’m sorry for. Do yourself a favor and watch it as soon as you can. If for nothing else, then for the music - because the music in BSG, composed bu McCreary is unheard of in television history.
Besides the visuals, the score was one of the first things that struck me as very original in BSG. I’d simply never heard anything like it. It ranges from Japanese style taiko percussions to middle eastern style flute and rythms to to classical scores on par with some of the greatest composers in classical music history.
Here follows a selection of Bear McCreary’s more classically themed tunes
Playlist: Passacaglia | Rosslin Confesses | Worthy of Survival | The Shape of Things to Come Hint: to skip forward, move the slider to the very end of the track
Instead of writing a long boring post about atheism and why I am and “atheist”, or disbeliever, I will instead supply Jonathan Miller’s Brief History of Disbelief part I and II (all hail Google!). So you just kick back, relax and watch these two hour long documentaries about one of the most controversial topics in social history: The belief - or rather lack of belief - in religion.
Very interesting stuff, I promise. I can personally identify strongly with this man and sign just about all that is said in these documentaries. If you’re not an atheist yourself then perhaps this might be a glimpse of what’s behind that atheist curtain.
