The Return of the Comeback II

Should you be wanting to comment on that special YouTube vid, but lack the time to think of something to say, here’s the all new Best of YouTube Collected Comment Snippets for you.

• gay
• rofl
• you’re so stupid
• nOOb
• f*ck *ff you liberal commie
• my brother can do this too, but way better
• my mum can do this too, but way better
• your mum is gay
• if you’re so good let’s see your vid
• gay
• lolZ
• ghetto power – check me at www.ghettopowerrulezforever.net
• lol, U r NOT from the ghetto, you’re from the gay-to
• i saw him live in 1997
• me in ‘95
• ‘95? back he when he was gay? like you?
• stop hatin gays
• stop gaying hate
• pepsi is so waaaay better than coke
• coke is the shitz, pepsi is da ballz suxor
• dude where’s my car
• you’re car is gay dude
• first
• you should get off the crack pipe
• you should get off the crack ho
• at least i’m not gay…
• “this fire is out of control, we need more water, sand, …anything” thats da best line ever
• “this fire is out of control, we need more water, sand, …anything” lolz
• “diz fire is out of control, wee need mor water, sand, …anyting” lolw
• “this fire is out of control, we need more water, sand, …anything”
• “this fire is out of control, we need more water, sand, …anything”
• rofl 1:12 –> “this fire is out of control, we need more …”
• that wuz the gayest movie evr…sooooo gay
• second
• gay

( any similarity between these and actual YouTube comments is completely and utterly semi-coincidental  )

Extremely concise guide to hotel guides

If there are no pictures of the exterior then it probably looks like one of these :

If there are no pictures of the rooms then then they probably look like one of these :

Deleting Files ( on Windows )

Shift + Delete = Bad
Delete = Good

Shift + Delete = False sense of empowerment
Delete = Wise approach to one’s own fallibility

Shift + Delete = Lost forever
Delete = Still there when you need it

Shift + Delete = Old Fool
Delete = Old Skool

Shift + Delete = Clever road to utter madness
Delete = Becoming one with the universe

The only thing you need to remember is :

Home Entertainment Schmamblings

Between the last article and this one I have been busy putting together our home entertainment system.

Since I like Visio, I made a diagram in Visio.

Home Entertainment Network

Interesting items in this setup :

• Popcorn Hour media player
• Western Digital MyBook NAS
• DVB-T antenna

This setup does not include digital cable television. Currently we get a couple of real good stations through our antenna. So we get to see the news and several very good shows. This is more than enough for us for what tv is concerned.
We also use it for radio. The disadvantage is that your tv has to be on, because it contains DVB-T decoder.

The Popcorn Hour media player is the device that connects to all media that is not tv or radio : it streams off the MyBook NAS, internet stations and USB storage. It is also capable of acting as a server, but I do not have an internal drive for it yet. That internal drive is going to be a Compact Flash card with a CF to SATA converter module.
For two reasons : it’s fast, quiet and cool. Well, that’s three reasons. So three reasons then : fast, quiet, cool and cheap. Again, the four reasons for using a CF to SATA converter are : fast, quiet, cool, cheap and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.

This is not the ultimate setup. There is no ultimate setup. Video format wars, hardware vs software dialectic, smaller and faster components, network technology advancements and Boxee are all things that make your setup quite crappy in regard to the ultimate setup. Which does not exist, but would currently be something like a mix between LinuxMCE, Boxee and Apple TV. All of this working flawlessy of course, playing every media format known to man.

The disadvantages of our current setup are :

• Popcorn Hour does not have a movie or music jukebox built in
• Popcorn Hour does not seem to play .mp4 files that my Lacie Cinema Premier did play. They play but there is no sound. And by playing them, the Philips Soundbar is audiophonically tilted, refusing to play any more sound.
• .mkv files seem to work best for the Popcorn Hour. But alas they do not play well on the Vista laptop using either VLC or Mediaplayer, nor on the Aspire One using VLC. Apparently MPlayer would be the solution for the Aspire. One more media player removed from bliss.
• There is no tv recording.
• There are three remotes. This will be remedied in the future with a Logitech Harmony 885.

You could probably come up with a couple more disadvantages, but I’m quite happy with this setup. My main requirement was bridging the lean-forward pc media environment to the lean-back television world. Having the complete South Park collection at my fingertips sitting in a comfy sofa is a great feeling. A reward for all those years of neck- and backache inducing late night pc sessions.

Note : you could be thinking when reading this article that the all the devices in the network have access to the internet. But this is not so. Only the laptop currently has got an internet connection in the form of a USB modem using the GSM network. The real internet will be installed on March 10.

Home Entertainment Ramblings

A while ago we moved to our new house. At last we have the space and comfort we always wanted. And comfort is relative, since several parts of the house still need to be completed. But the essential things are there. Well the essential essential things at least.

One thing that we do already have is a new tv. I have searched high and low for the optimal television set. Plowed through endless lists of specs, prices and reviews. I also went to electronics shops to see for myself what the picture quality of some of these tv’s was really worth.

The result of the search was this tv :

I ordered it online, from Redcoon.be. Its price was unbeatable for this particular model. But do your own research before buying one, things move fast on the web. Just google for ‘<thing you want> price [|prix|prijs|preise]‘.

The next thing on my list was a decent set of amplifier and speakers combo. I didn’t really care for a specific setup like 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, plain stereo, biamp stereo,… It just had to be something relatively cheap – which rules out high-end receivers and speakers – and decent sounding.

And the results of the groundbreaking jury ( that’s just me in fact, there’s no real jury, I just made that up for effect, but I soon realised that this lie would not hold for long, so I just thought it better to confess right away ) are :

This device uses a technology that creates surround sound using just one speaker cabinet. Of course you need the subwoofer for the lows as well. Two features, simplicity and compatibility, made this device stand out from all the others.
It has been ordered, but not yet delivered.

So now that we have the two main devices sorted, the question poses itself : what to hook up to them? How to have a big collection of movies, music and photographs that is accessible from anywhere in the house?

Do I use small specialized pc’s? Or dedicated devices?

Do I buy a media streaming client? And a server? Or do I set this up with an old pc featuring Ubuntu? Or should I look at media disk drives?

Will I switch to Apples’s iTunes/iPod/Apple TV?

Every setup has its drawbacks and imperfections. It looks as if with current technology you should be able to make a setup that is perfectly suited to your needs, but whatever you think of, there is always a catch.

And the truly terrible thing is : whatever you eventually install, you’ll always have that nagging feeling that you did it wrong.

Next time I’ll ramble some more about possible setups and their drawbacks.

And what the hell is up with these expensive HDMI cables anyway? Don’t people realise that a digital signal is mostly an all or nothing affair over such a short distance? Either you have bytes or you don’t. The bytes don’t care about gold or nickel, shielded or unshielded, expensive or cheap. This is more than adequate.

Why?

On my laptop – Vista Home Premium – the soft restart doesn’t work. Never has. Doing this always results in black screen. It gets stuck somewhere. Also doesn’t matter if it is triggered manually or from an installer.

So, that means I have to apply the five second rule : I press the power button for five seconds, then it shuts down. It’s not really a rule, but what the heck, it sounds cool to say : “OK, I guess I’ll have to apply the five second rule”.

Why does my laptop behave like this? Who knows? Who cares? Is there a fix? Who knows? Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t? Why is applying a restart so much harder than shutdown followed by a start? Who  knows? Is there anybody out there who knows what Vista is up to? Has the complexity caught up to the developers? Is the complexity resulting in chaos? Is the chaos resulting in boundless indeterminism? Is indeterminism something like intelligence? Who knows? Anybody?

Mom, look at this

The game of solitaire is deceptively simple. Well, not so much deceptively as really. However, predicting whether you can go all the way turns out to be a different matter altogether.

Luckily for me, Solitaire gives a warning when you are out of moves. If it didn’t I’d still be staring at this hand.

I present you : The Close-But-No-Cigarest Game of Solitaire. Ever.

DIY blog post :

< Insert excuse for topic here >

< Insert semi-complete introduction and background here, with witty links here and here >

< Insert reference to pop-(sub)culture here >

< Insert semi-accurate elaboration on pseudo-intellectual political or social subject here>

< Insert reference to having more knowledge than you appear to have ( but actually don’t have ) here plus the excuse for not giving that knowledge >

< Insert mumbo-jumbo to hide unraveling plot here >

< Insert sudden goodbye to readers here >

Best Wishes Homies

Hi all, first of all, my best wishes for 2008 to you my dear readers.

Now that we have got that out of the way, here’s the main subject of this post : instant noodles . The easy to cook coach potato version of ramen.
I for one am a big instant ramen enthousiast, but the problem is that in the regular supermarket, there isn’t much choice. You basically have fish, shrimp and chicken flavor, and all of them rather present a rather harsh taste experience. And then I’m not even talking about Aiki noodles. Don’t get me started on them. They almost ruined instant noodles for me completely. Aiki noodles are only edible the first time you prepare them. After that your body has realised that the flavors they use are pretty much crap. But hey, I wasn’t going to talk about Aiki noodles.

What I am going to bother you with is the fact that for those living in the region of Leuven, you now have the opportunity to experience a smorgasbord of instant ramen flavors. How to take advantage of this opportunity? Well you basically go to the following address : Naamsestraat 28. At that address you will find this shop ( apologies for the extremely poor picture quality, I just ripped it as a real small png off the net )

Within this rather soberly decorated mini supermarket(*), you will find a couple of racks stacked with all the instant noodles you like.
And the kicker is : they are very cheap. Average price for a packet of instant noodles is about 55 cent.

Today I went there and bought 5,15 euro’s worth of instant ramen. I just grabbed whatever was in front of me, although I restricted myself mostly to the classic Nissin brand with some exotic brands thrown in for the more adventurous evenings.

This is what I got :

Now this may seem like a huge improvement over your local Delhaize as far as flavors are concerned, but let me tell you that this is not even one twentieth of the selection Heng Fung offers.

My better half and myself already ate two packets just now – they were of the soup variety – and they tasted great. Just as the three doses we consumed a couple of days ago but of which I unfortunately have no pictures to show you.
OK, that’s it. Off you go my little grasshoppers. Because the only way to become a better Bruce Lee, is to eat lots of instant noodles. Banzaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiii !!!!!!

(*) “Mini supermarket”? Isn’t that a rather odd concept? However just “market” wouldn’t really transfer the meaning correctly. And “supermarket” by itself would also be bordering on overstatement.

Because I forgot the more interesting topics

Every once in a while an idea for a topic flashes into my brain. But unlike my younger years, when my brain was fresh and bubbly, those ideas don’t stay around for long. The idea of a neuron is that by flashing more and faster, connections to other neurons are reinforced, and that way you remember stuff. All your memories are strongly interconnected patterned areas of neurons.

In itself this is a great concept, because unlike a computer, a human can associate one idea to another. Memories are not confined to a discrete area of the brain, they are in fact connected – directly or indirectly – to all other memories in the brain.

However these days, in my brain, the fact that all mental models are connected to the whole brain combined with the fact that some mental models dominate, results in a complete white-noise blurring of all other ideas besides the dominant ones.

So a lot of interesting ideas for topics flash before me, only to be overpowered by a few dominant mental states.

Why are they dominant? Why are they only now dominant? My personal opinion is that when you grow older you have to focus more on critical responsibilities like money, kids and work. There is no more room for semi-hallucinogenic brain excursions or storage of trivial facts. When you lose your focus, you’re slipping, and when you’re slippin’ you lose the game bro.

Ok, sorry ’bout that.

Now that we have got that out of the way, the actual topic in wanted to introduce – in absence of a better one – is Tiered Passwords.

People have to remember a lot of passwords these days, so many in fact, that it pays to use just a couple of passwords.
The way you can safely do this, is by having tiers of passwords.

1. NST : no security tier. Meant for those sites where registration to get a service is required, but which does not store any of your private personal data, and where you don’t really care what happens to your account. Use a simple password here.
2. LST : low security tier. This is the tier reserved for sites where just some bits and pieces of your personal data are stored, like an email address. You can use this tier for public fora or other non-critical online services. Use the NST password here but add something simple to it.
3. MST : medium security tier. Sites which are in this tier store a lot of your personal data but someone gaining access to your account could not do a lot of harm. Use a semi-complex password
4. HST : high security tier. Reserved for the most critical sites and services. Use a highly random complex password featuring uppercase, lowercase, numbers and more UNICODE goodness.

I even made this nice chart for you to ponder over. Click it.

You may ask, why not just have one tier? The most secure one? That way, all of your accounts will be very hard to get in.
Asking this question is the same as asking why you don’t put the exact same stainless steel multilocks on your toilet door as you do on your front door.

The answer : either nobody would go to the toilet anymore, or everybody would know how to get your front door open.