Feeding the Bit Bucket» Blog Archive » Common Lisp, Clojure and Evolution. No, Clojure is not described as an evolution of Common Lisp - it's simply the example program "Evolution" from the book "Land of Lisp" translated into Clojure by someone who is learning Clojure by implementing all the examples in Clojure using the Common Lisp code as a basis. And therefore a good comparison opportunity between Clojure and Common Lisp. Maybe interesting for 2 or 3 readers of my blog. Otherwise, for me as a bookmark to look back at later.
Archive 7.2.2011 - 27.2.2011
Naked Password - jQuery Plugin to Encourage Stronger Passwords. Yes, that's what it says. The internet is very, very strange.
Weekly Market in Münster
With the dreary winter weather at the moment, the weekly market is not only a good opportunity to get the food I want to prepare over the weekend, but also a real feast for the eyes. I need colors! (Pictures with the Sony NEX-3 and the 2.8/16mm lens)
Hundreds of Tourist Photos Weaved into One (18 total) - My Modern Metropolis. Many tourists photograph the same subjects from the same angles - and here someone has layered many of these images on top of each other and produced composite images. Gives the images a wonderful painterly impression.
Fairytales
Sometimes the differences between what we see, what the camera captures, and what we imagine are too fundamentally different. Digital enables the adjustment of the appearance to the imagination - because photography is not always just a simple representation of what the chip sees. Images taken with the Sony NEX-3 and the Leica Elmar 50/2.8. Edited with Lightroom.
Cooking with rfc1437 - Mediterranean Pork Medallions
RFC1437 on the Road. If you've been wondering about the constant food photos in the sidebar lately - these are often things I've cooked myself. Since I can't really cook, it's quite a sensation for me when it actually tastes good!
Today: Mediterranean Pork Stir-Fry
- Pork (cut into 2cm strips), amount depending on hunger
- one bell pepper (it was a large one, otherwise take two)
- 400g mushrooms
- 50ml vegetable stock (for the sauce later)
- 250ml cream (that was too much, next time I'll only take 200ml)
- two cloves of garlic (I remove the heart, it smells less, tastes the same)
- Oregano and sweet paprika (I put that on the meat before frying, it becomes more flavorful then)
- Pepper, salt (well, that's always there)
- Cut meat into strips, dice bell pepper, chop garlic
- Pre-season the meat
- Heat pan with olive oil
- Add meat and fry until it gets a nice crust (not too long, otherwise it will be too dry later, it will still be simmered in the sauce) - for thin strips, 2 minutes seem enough
- Remove meat, add mushrooms and sweat (I had to google that, it just means frying until they sweat, so water comes out)
- Add vegetable broth, bring to a boil
- Add cream, bring to a boil
- Taste the sauce, season with oregano, pepper and salt to taste
- Add meat and bell pepper, cook in the sauce for 5 minutes
- optional: Let the food boil over (bah, uncooperative food won't wait when I'm not looking)
I just eat it with bread - that also helps if, like me, too much sauce is made. And no, I don't think this is particularly calorie-conscious eating. Presumably, the sauce can also be made with something other than cream, but hey, I can't cook, I have to stick to recipes! (that's why it's being blogged, then I can cook the things that taste good to me without having to search long)
You are heroes!
Thanks, Judith Holofernes!
The BILD newspaper is not to be regarded with a wink as trash cultural asset and no harmless “Guilty Pleasure” for well-groomed upstarts, no witty social reference and no lifestyle quote. And least of all is the Bild newspaper what you want to sell it as: hated but largely harmless inventory of an otherwise much smarter Germany.
The Bild newspaper is a dangerous political instrument — not only a strongly magnifying telescope into the abyss, but a malicious being that does not describe Germany, but makes it. With an agenda.
by Wir sind Helden. The advertising campaign of the Blöd with these unspeakable "celebrity quotes", for which people give themselves who should actually know much better, is an unspeakable nonsense. And at least someone says what they really think about it, instead of being instrumentalized for the Blöd. (Obligatory Guttenberg: I shamelessly copied the title from the Schockwellenreiter)
MostAwesomeDude/bravo is a Minecraft server written in Python. Looking at what's happening around Minecraft, I think I should check it out. Especially after a bit of browsing - it seems to be a good mix of freeform building like Lego and (adjustable difficulty) monster-slaying gameplay. And since you can run your own server, which can now also be multiplayer, you can build your constructions together with others or share them (though they can also break everything if you let them). And it doesn't cost a monthly fee, which personally kept me away from Lego Universe (even though I bought the box).
Ada 95: The Craft of Object-Oriented Programming. Free online book (formerly Prentice Hall from 97) about Ada 95. Quite nice to see the beautifully byzantine-looking source code of Ada again.
IP Addresses and Privacy
IP Address: Data Protectionists Target AdSense, Amazon Links, and IVW. I don't know, but I think slowly this is starting to overshoot the mark. Yes, data collection should be avoided when avoidable. And certainly, one should always keep in mind what can be done with the data for a central figure like Google. But if this leads to, for example, the Google API Loader for jQuery no longer being usable because their accesses also go to Google servers, or if, as here, complaints are made about Amazon Affiliate links - which only access Amazon when clicked, not generally - then things are getting a bit hairy.
Then we are only a short step away from generally prohibiting links to pages from larger providers. Or absurdities, such as the idea expressed here of the illegality of using Google Mail in Germany. Yes, IP addresses are conditionally personally identifiable. And with IPv6, this will certainly become even more apparent (since there the reuse of IP addresses is not as mandatory as with IPv4). But the IP address is at the same time the central pivot of the Internet, and if one focuses too much on it, one eventually reaches the point where the highest data protection officer prohibits access to the international Internet because one thereby reveals one's IP address to computers outside Germany...
Data protection is to a large extent also the education of users and the self-responsibility of users - the latter can of course only be achieved with an appropriate level of knowledge. I would feel much better if the data protection authorities also produced useful output in the form of citizen information. But there it's somehow bleak.
So, discuss with the large providers and, if necessary, take them to court to force them to comply with data protection guidelines: yes. Public discussion about the problems and dangers: yes. Wildly attacking random forum operators: no.
Why is the data protectionist going after something as irrelevant as mentioned in the article, and not even against one of the big players in the forum industry, such as Heise, Spiegel, Focus, or Golem? Too much respect for the reaction to be expected there?
Something smells fishy about the whole thing. Possibly we don't have all the information - but I can't think of what information might be missing that would make the whole thing an appropriate reaction.
Because I wrote about Prograph: Andescotia Software seems to have a new commercial Prograph version available. The whole thing works under OSX 10.4 and there is a demo version to try out. And it's not expensive at all with 68 dollars. I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight! And as a free download there is the book "Visual Programming With Prograph CPX". Update: the playing has been canceled, the demo does not start under Snow Leopard ... (and the traffic on their mailing list does not look like there is a big reaction to be expected). Too bad. I wrote an email, maybe something will happen yet, but it sounds very much like a dead project again. Once again.
hotzen/ScalaFlow provides a very interesting extension to Scala: dataflow programming with automatic resolution via continuations - you define variables, can access variable values before values are assigned to them and the system itself sorts all accesses and assignments into the correct order. Particularly interesting as a basis for parallelization, when partial areas only emerge later but corresponding processing should already be defined earlier. Dataflow languages have been of interest to me since Prograph. The integration into a normal language as a basis could be quite interesting.
remogatto/gospeccy - a ZX Spectrum Emulator written in Go. Since I was an old Spectrum owner and this was my first box that I bought with my own earned money (back then an article in the c't! My first and only foray into writing!).
lsyncd is somewhat like Dropbox but very simple. Essentially, it's a daemon that listens for directory changes via inotify and automatically triggers an rsync if needed to synchronize directory trees. Since you can sync any directories with it and can also intervene in the sync process via Lua integration in lsyncd, it could be useful for some loosely coupled sync situations (e.g., autonomous nodes in a very loosely coupled cluster or home servers that automatically sync to a server on the internet). Additionally, it offers functions similar to Hazel - you can assign various actions (not just sync) to different file change events.
Plagiarism – GuttenPlag Wiki. With the latest politician statements in support of Guttenberg, I really wonder if a Mrs. Merkel and a Mr. Seehofer are really too stupid to look at the Wikia page beforehand - at the time of my post 175 instances with evidence of the copied originals. This has nothing to do with mistakes or negligence, this is just plain system.
Totally wild: MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 3.5/35. A lens produced in a very small series (only 200 pieces) for the Leica-M bayonet. The basis is a triplet - i.e. a three-lens - but designed with modern calculations and modern glass types. Of course, triplets have known problems - some show up in a softer drawing and lower line resolution, others in the rather meager light strength. Nevertheless, the little guy is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the edition is already completely sold out. For my M8 (and the NEX-3 with adapter) it became a C Biogon 2.8/35 from Zeiss for me. That is already a much more classic calculation and execution, also not so super light-strong, but nicely compact. And Zeiss-typical "chön charf". I admit, however, if Leica had a retractable Elmar 2.8/35 or 3.5/35 (i.e. new, not the old, known lens for screw Leicas - the old one has too many optical defects by today's standards), I could get weak (Elmare are four-lens, I already use a 2.8/50 and 4.0/90, both retractable, the 50 is a hybrid: a four-lens triplet, i.e. the last two lenses cemented).
Spherical aberration. Not only about spherical aberration, but also about the problem of focus shift when stopping down - the latter is not so intuitive to understand, because why should the point of best focus shift in the plane, just because you stop down - after all, only the depth of field is increased. But it's never quite that simple, especially with fast lenses.
BoPhoto.com: M8 coder - simple manual handcoding of M lenses. Another useful template to apply lens coding. Some Zeiss and Voigtländer lenses have a small gap at the bayonet, where you can even use paint for the marking, which then holds better and doesn't wear off as quickly. Or you can make the markings on thinner paper and clamp it between the lens and the body. It's a bit fiddly, but perhaps practical for occasional changing.
Get inPulse and Hack Your Watch. Looks pretty cool, just a small computer and a display, programmable, connected via Bluetooth. Could do some nice tricks with it. Maybe even display the time.
PyPy Status Blog: PyPy Winter Sprint Report. Most important point: fast-forward is in Trunk, so the next version of PyPy will definitely have 2.7 compatibility.
And for those who want an overview of various S3 file systems: Comparison of S3QL and other S3 file systems. The list also includes commercial packages and a simple feature comparison is made.
s3fs - I should also check this out, as it allows me to mount Amazon S3 on the server and access it from the outside via WebDAV, indirectly also to S3. For my pictures, it might be sensible in the long run to have two offsite backups with different techniques. For this purpose, I should also take a look at the s3fslight fork, as it is said to work better with rsync and that would be interesting for automatic backups. Both store files directly in S3, so they can be trivially downloaded. On the other hand, both have problems with the eventual consistency feature of S3, you have to run the synchronization multiple times, especially when you make many changes. Therefore, I should also take a look at s3ql, which forms a complete file system that only uses S3 as storage. This makes it more difficult to access file contents outside of s3ql - but there are also things like deduplication and encryption (in cloud storage, it seems more sympathetic to store things encrypted rather than unencrypted, even if you can trust some providers more than others).
nginx HttpDavModule. I want to check it out to get easier access to my server from OSX - might be quite interesting for some things (e.g. backups of my pictures to my server to have an offsite storage location).
Newspaper: Guttenberg plagiarized parts of his doctoral thesis - and now everyone with the princes: "everything just stolen"!
MobileMe sucks hamsters through straws
Twitter / Search - mobileme. It's really shitty when you have to search on Twitter to find out that MobileMe is crap again and you can't log in - because the stupid Apple status page provides no information again. The way Apple operates MobileMe is highly unprofessional. Unfortunately, sync methods other than MobileMe are pretty crap if you want to sync various Macs and iOS devices. And since I naturally searched on Twitter too late again, and had already tried to fix my problem with the support information provided by Apple, I will probably have to reconstruct my MobileMe access on my Air tomorrow or so. Because of course, checking various problems with MobileMe is only possible in a destructive way. Thanks Apple for this waste of time.
LR/Blog - Send images to your blog from Adobe Lightroom. I had already found another plugin for this, but this one is more flexible and supports other blog types as well (down to "naked" MetaWeblogAPI). However, I don't know if it works with Lightroom 3 and newer WordPress versions ...
Tom Otterness: Superwoman
And here are a few examples with the same M8 and the 2.8/50 Elmar - but in the use for which I bought the camera. Black and white, as photos should be. Straight out of the camera, just the standard "B&W with blue filter high contrast" preset from Lightroom. Normally I would spend a bit more time on it, but I just wanted to put a few pictures online. It's silly to only use cameras but never show photos ...
Organ Pipes
I just love the pattern of organ pipes. And hey, if you want to test a camera in Münster, organ pipes are always ready as a subject. And they won't run away if the photographer is too slow to focus again ... (Leica M8 with the 2.8/50 Elmar and yes, I have to get used to the parallax again, the M8 only shows a very small section in the viewfinder at greater distances, you have to mentally calculate)
Contador can get back in the saddle - and Spain is systematically making cycling even worse than it already is. The whole thing is just a joke and an insult to every cycling fan, what the Spanish cycling federation is pulling off.
Bracketeer: Exposure Processing Software. Hmm, I've only played with the built-in HDR in the Sony NEX so far, and with HDRTist (I think in the free version). But I could try this one as well. Currently available for 5 Euros in the AppStore.
KammaGamma » Articles » Solving the Leica M8 DNG riddle. Interesting because Leica still claims the M8 is a 16-bit camera - but only 8 bits per pixel are actually stored. The article sheds light on what this means for the images. Short version: reserves in the shadows, but fewer reserves in the highlights. Should be taken into account when photographing. What remains, however, is the dynamic range - because the LUT maps the entire dynamic range, it simply creates holes in the highlight gradations. Nevertheless, I would prefer it if Leica offered an optional DNG format in which all the RAW data would be stored. It would be possible with a firmware update. (By the way, the M9 offers compressed and uncompressed DNGs as a format)
Main Page - Esolang. You should bookmark this blog because Wikipedia keeps deleting programming languages because they are supposedly completely uninteresting ... (currently deleted: Nemerle, Alice ML and Factor is also up for deletion again). What bothers me the most about the whole thing: Google and others now rank Wikipedia so heavily that it's almost impossible to find other programming wikis beyond these deletion pages.
Working Leica M8 Created Using Lego. And while we're at it, crazy cameras ...
- 3D Portfolio of Michael Grote -. If you like fantastic 3D renderings and want to take a peek behind the scenes (he often includes wireframe and concept renderings), just click. Really great work - I particularly like the Steampunk camera ...
Cameras. Specifically folding bellows view cameras, not old ones, but newly produced in various formats. Beautiful devices. Completely impractical, but hey, if I had the money and a realistic chance to overcome my anti-chemistry pig dog, then that would really be something exciting. So for me it's just nice to look at (the website - I wouldn't even buy a camera just to look at it).
'The Beast' Electric Bike: 50mph, $33,500. Ok, you can't really call this a bicycle anymore, it's more like an electric motorcycle-light or something. But still quite fascinating. Seems to be the week of Electro-Bikes or something: the eRockit is also a hybrid (and much cheaper than the Beast, but still very expensive)
Leica M Lens Codes. Since I bought a used M8 (yes, yes, quiet, no chatter) and now don't want to spend money on lens adapters (hey, you in the back, I heard you giggle!) - they cost around 100 euros per lens. Maybe later, but in the meantime, I might get by with a stencil, a black permanent marker, and this table.
SourceTree | Mercurial and Git GUI for Mac OS X. Hmm - it's not exactly cheap at 45 Euros in the AppStore. But sometimes I would already have a GUI for working with Mercurial, especially when I work with foreign repositories and possibly have local changes. Maybe I'll play around with the trial sometime.
JSTalk is a JavaScript editor with an integrated runtime and preprocessor to give JavaScript an Objective-C-like syntax for accessing Objective-C classes and a bridge to Objective-C underneath. Basically, something like FScript, but with JavaScript. Can also be used to script applications instead of AppleScript. Or just for playing around with Cocoa APIs. Somehow pretty cool, even if it initially seems quite inconspicuous.
"Press Kit" « Lucs Journal. A plugin for Lightroom that can export directly to the Wordpress Media Library or a NextGEN Gallery. However, of course again via xmlrpc.php, which I only reluctantly enable due to the more frequent security issues with it.
Advanced sign-in security for your Google account - Official Gmail Blog. Generally a good idea, as it makes the login - when used correctly - really more secure. But whether one overcomes one's inner laziness and actually uses it ... (I'm not even sure if I want to do this for my email)
ongoing by Tim Bray · Broken Links. Why these overused #! fragments in URLs are a big mess and why you shouldn't use them. And yes, it's annoying to rape the web - especially since there's absolutely no reason to do so, dynamic servers can easily map various URL structures. And yes, I know about the problem that you can only switch the URL in the browser in the fragment part via JavaScript, without forcing a reload - but that's no reason to convert all URLs to such a stupid fragment format.
Beginners GH1 Custom Firmware Guide - EOSHD. Maybe I should take a look at custom firmware for the GH1. However, it's very video-heavy, and so far I haven't done much with it.
Secret texts 'key to Julian Assange case' - or "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't trying to fry you". It's looking more and more like a campaign by the currently investigating prosecutor and less and less like a legal procedure. But as a Swedish acquaintance laconically commented: "we also throw people in jail for posting links to files that contain links to illegal downloads".
scgi-wsgi 1.1 released - Allan Saddi's projects blog - so far we have been using its FLUP-based server that comes with Django, but the option to switch to mod_prox_scgi would be interesting because we could effectively save one server in between and no longer have to work with ajp. Although ajp is not that bad either - so maybe just do a few tests. For simple web services, however, I will continue to use the wsgi server based on gevent that I have been using in deezeit, because it is simply incredibly fast and uses almost no resources.
Streitfall: Telekom will einheitlichen De-Mail-Domainnamen per Gesetz - state-subsidized scam free from technical expertise. The entire de-mail debacle can hardly be surpassed in absurdity.
Carl Zeiss joins Micro Four Thirds System - and this makes things more interesting for my Panasonics again, as the Zeiss video lenses could really be great additions to the system. And what Schneider-Kreuznach will bring is not yet known, but they have already delivered interesting things for the field of digital large format cameras. I say photography technology is really exciting at the moment.
Gravatars: why publishing your email's hash is not a good idea. And it also explains why avatars have disappeared again from my blog for commentators - not that I suffer from paranoia, but why open up the possibility of determining an email address for a gimmick?
IN-12 / IV-12 Nixie / VFD Clock. Well, tubes are just awesome. However, I would rather go for the "ready-assembled clock" option, my fingers often end up on the wrong (hot) end of the soldering iron ...