Random Stuff

Money Problems? Professor Yussuf Mugaga (Spiritual Guru)

2010-07-29T19:05:00.000+02:00

My friend Laura Vezer from Calgary, Canada asks: "Sybrand, I am having trouble controlling my expenditure. I wonder who could help me?"

Laura, you won't believe it - but Prof. Wakho (one of the top 10 spiritualists in the world), told me of just the right person for that very problem. It's Spiritual Guru Professor Yussuf Mugaga! He's one of the top 10 spiritualists in the world - and has just the thing.

He can remove the black spot in your hands that keeps taking away money! (For only R100)

TOP 10! - Prof. Wakho

2010-07-27T20:09:00.000+02:00

Prof. Vita did me a world of good. My malaise has lifted - and I feel once more strong and powerful. So knowledgeable! I didn't even know I had enkepalins!

I was about to head back to Prof. Vita , and ask about what the future might hold for me, when I found out about Prof. Wakho. This guys amazing! One of the top ten spiritualists in the WORLD! (And he has an interweb site!)

This Wakho's a bit more expensive - but you get what you pay for!

Closer to home - Professor Vita

2010-07-23T21:39:00.000+02:00

Lucky for me I won't have to go all the way through to Centurion to see Prof. Mamba!

My friend Johan referred me to Prof. Vita. He mentioned something about Prof. Vita helping him find a stolen bicycle, but I suspect Johan was after the Jamaican Extract.

Under the weather - Professor Mamba

2010-07-22T21:48:00.000+02:00

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this last week. I think I'll track down Professor Mamba again, he is a herbalist healer after all!.

Haven't seen him since 2007 when he helped me "Ensure that single person gets a partner in the shortest time".

Only problem is... he's all the way in Centurion!

Space

2010-06-14T16:54:00.000+02:00

White Rhino

2010-06-02T22:30:00.000+02:00

WPF - ListViewItem - MouseOver

2010-06-02T11:44:00.000+02:00

I keep forgetting the style, to set the mouseover color of a listview item

This blog has moved

2010-03-20T18:22:00.001+02:00

This blog is now located at http://sybrand.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://sybrand.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Evolution - GMail - IMAP

2010-03-19T23:46:00.000+02:00

Lies and more lies.

Here's how I got evolution to work with Gmail using IMAP

Receive:

IMAP

imap.gmail.com:993

SSL

Send:

SMTP

smtp.gmail.com:465

server requires authentication

ssl encryption

authentication type PLAIN

ffmpeg and mp3

2010-01-25T07:22:00.000+02:00

I went to the trouble of compiling ffmpeg on windows - but there was an issue with compiling lame. It felt so unnatural on windows anyway. I'm so used to just having all the tools right there. With Ubuntu it's just so EASY. Most programs are just a quick apt-get away. If I need to compile something, it's just make install and you're away!

I'm supposed to be studying - but looks like this post : http://symbiotix.net/articles/compiling-ffmpeg-mp3-ubuntu-revised-ubuntu-gutsy-server is what I need. I'll give it a try when I have time - or maybe medibuntu has a ffmpeg with it build in?

Stolen from his site:

"However, we’re using Ubuntu based servers and Ubuntu has a strict policy not to include non-free software. This means that the ffmpeg version in the repositories is not built with essential functionality, like mp3 support for audio conversion.

Solution: compile from source. Don’t run away screaming. It’s real easy.

1. enable universe and multiverse repositories
UbuntuGuide » general notes » how to add extra repositories

2. get your tools

sudo apt-get install checkinstall build-essential subversion

3. get the latest ffmpeg sources

cd /usr/local/src sudo svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

4. get the necessary dependencies

sudo apt-get install liblame-dev libfaad-dev libfaac-dev libxvidcore4-dev liba52-0.7.4 liba52-0.7.4-dev libx264-dev

5. configure

cd ffmpeg sudo ./configure --enable-gpl --enable-liba52 --disable-debug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaac --enable-pthreads --disable-vhook

6. compile

sudo make

7. go have a snack

8. create the .deb package

sudo checkinstall

note: just press [return] each time when asked for a configuration option

9. install the .deb package

sudo dpkg -i [ffmpeg_your_version.deb]

10. rejoice "

ffmpeg - MTS to MOV with DNxHD

2009-12-27T22:23:00.000+02:00

So I'm trying to get some insane high quality .MTS video, down to the same quality as my DSC's .MP4 stuff in DNxHD.

I can't for the life of me convince ffmpeg to get the FPS right. So for now my solution is NOT to take it to DNxHD, but to MJPEG

The video is easier than the sound - due to Vegas having that stupid sound bug. I spent more than an hour today trying to find an audio stream that Vegas likes. So far I have this:

ffmpeg -i source.MTS -vcodec mjpeg -s 1280x720 -qscale 1 -r 30 -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k -ar 44100 target.AVI

Video works sweet - sound still messed up!

Sony Vegas - it's worth the trouble to get it to work

2009-12-25T07:16:00.000+02:00

After battling for hours - I have the solution.

Problem: Sony Vegas won't play audio for .MP4 - they blame QuickTime (LAME!!). All other non-pro video editors suck. Apart from the ones I blogged about - I tried a whole bunch of open source ones. They all suck.

Solution:

1. Pay for Sony Vegas (incentive to get it to work + I'm a Sony whore even though their laptops suck)

2. Download DNxHD codec from Avid woohoo for open standards!

3. Set up a nice Ubuntu install in VirtualBox (I'll have to dual boot until Civilization and Vegas run native under Linux.) Skip this step if you are hard core enough to compile ffmpeg to work under Windows.

4. Praise the mighty ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i INPUT.MP4 -vcodec dnxhd -b 60Mb -acodec pcm_s16be OUTPUT.MOV

5. Boom. You're ready!!!

Video Editing - With Adobe Premier Elements 8

2009-12-23T07:32:00.000+02:00

Awesome i7 chip, 7200rpm drive is decent enough - lets give this a spin

1) Massive download, install Adobe Premier Elements 8

2) Woohoo! It can edit .MP4 files!!!

3) Ok. It stopped working. W.T.F???

3.1) Damnit! Fine - I'm learning how to use ffmpeg

3.2) Install ubuntu in virtualbox - I'm not rebooting all the time

3.3) ffmpeg -i M4H00471.MP4 -vcodec mjpeg -sameq output.avi

4) Ok - sweet - I can open my files

4.1) I wonder if it works in Vegas now?

4.1.1) Nope

5) Ok - lets do some easy fade in / fade out effects

5.1) Damn this shit is slow.

5.2) DAMN!!! THIS IS SLOW!!!

5.3) W.T.F? It's not even touching my processor! My machine is just sitting back and relaxing!

5.3.1) Lots of free memory also... hmmm...

5.4) Ok ok - maybe I need to defrag?

5.5) Still slow as all hell.

Come on!!! How hard can this be! I just want to edit some some video mp4 video from my little digital camera. 720p 30 - that's not even a crazy high resolution. It should be a dream!

Video Editing - With Kdenlive

2009-12-07T05:04:00.000+02:00

New laptop with Ubuntu Karmic Koala. Time to edit those holiday videos.

1) Hello Kdenlive. Ok.. lets load in all the clips... BOOM CRASH.

2) Ok. Let's try only one. Hmm... sound playback kinda broken. Let's drag it on anyway. BOOM CRASH.

SOD THIS!

Video Editing - With Sony Vegas Platinum 9.0

2009-12-07T04:14:00.000+02:00

New laptop with Windows 7. Time to edit those holiday videos.

1) After messing around and trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.... No sound? Oh excuse me - mp4 from my Sony DVC doesn't provide a understandable audio track?

1.1) Ok - I'll convert it to something else

1.1.1) To VLC!

1.1.1.1) .OGG maybe? .OGG with VLC - bad quality, and sound is skippy. And Vegas can't play it.

1.1.1.2) .ASF then. Blegh. I think VLC is a bit ill.

1.1.2) Sod VLF - there must be something else! Ooow how about handbrake?

1.1.2.1) Nope - only for transcoding to nice little happy viewable formats.

1.1.3) MediaCoder?

1.1.3.1) Need 7zip to extract

1.1.3.2) Error code 8? That doesn't help me!

Forget this!!! I'm booting back into ubuntu!

xkill

2009-11-23T12:18:00.000+02:00

alt-f2 xkill

killing those nasty applications that i make...

I should be studying

2009-11-23T06:05:00.000+02:00

So of course - even under the pressure of imminent exams (11 hours left) I find distractions - like turning my old laptop into a media center.....

http://www.soma.fm/

http://www.bpm.fm/

Dell Studio 15 (1557)

2009-11-12T00:58:00.000+02:00

Got my new Dell Studio 15 (Studio 1557) yesterday!!

I love it. Hello i7. I love your fast speedy cpu Intel!!!!

Wasted no time in reinstalling Windows 7 on a small partition. (Thanks Dell for only increasing the memory footprint by 200meg with your random crapware - but I still prefer a clean install)

Ubuntu install was a bit painful. I haven't had a clean install since 8.10 - things started going wrong for me at 9.04. Don't let this happen Canonical! So q.c please!

The problems are all sound related - using the default volume keys caused craziness - and after installing a few things, sounds stopped working. Maybe that ATI drivers caused it? Anyway - solution to no sound on the dell is:
In file
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base:
Add another entry:
options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m6

WPF and the modal dialog (boring)

2009-10-19T23:23:00.000+02:00

Warning boring tech related blog entry follows:

Holy cows! WPF has made it VERY difficult to create a modal dialog box. It's difficult, because to do it properly, your modal dialog has to have a pointer to it's parent window. You can skip this step, have have one of those really junky applications that hide away your modal dialog in a land far far away.

The trick (hack) is the following

1) You need a System.IntPtr containing a pointer to the windows handle (this.Handle if you are lucky enough to be in a System.Windows.Window.Form)

2) You need to feed this pointer into your dialog thusly:

WindowInteropHelper wih = new WindowInteropHelper(myUserControl);
wuh.Owner = myIntPtr;
// then, with magical flair:
myUserControl.ShowDialog();

log4net

2009-10-13T23:59:00.000+02:00

I keep forgetting how to switch on log4net (using app.config)

I always end up wasting time on the apache docs, and searching the net to find this

Step 0:

Ensure that the first declaration of

"private static readonly log4net.ILog Log =log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);"
Occurs in your main assembly - if the first declaration is in linked assemblies, it won't load the setting correctly.

Step 1: Edit AssemblyInfo.cs
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

Step 2: Edit App.config

Important! The configSections bit has to be at the top of your config file. So if you've got an existing one, don't just add it on to the end!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
</configSections>
<log4net>
<appender name="ConsoleAppender" type="log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender" >
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
</layout>
</appender>
<root>
<level value="INFO" />
<appender-ref ref="ConsoleAppender" />
</root>
</log4net>
</configuration>

Step 3:

Need more example files - go to http://logging.apache.org/log4net/release/config-examples.html

"enfuse - poor man's HDR"

2009-08-27T05:31:00.000+02:00

Maybe I'm just too lazy for HDR.

I think align_image_stack and enfuse are my new best friends.

North Korea!!

2009-06-25T08:27:00.000+02:00

I totally forgot about North Korean!!! An updated world map is in order!

Spring time in Calgary

2009-04-04T03:10:00.003+02:00

It's spring time in Calgary! (Which is kind of like saying it's summer at the North Pole)

A game for a sad friend

2009-03-03T19:53:00.005+02:00

One of my friends is a bit sad. So... I made a game to cheer him up!!!

Click here to launch it! (You need Java)

It's a text based adventure game, that simulates real life.

XML, DOM, JAVA

2009-02-27T03:17:00.003+02:00

One of those things that I never bother remembering the exact details of, but end up having to look up on the internet all the time.

Note to self: XML, DOM, JAVA
Taken from this guys site: http://www.genedavis.com/library/xml/java_dom_xml_creation.jsp
Also a bit from here: http://www.java-tips.org/java-se-tips/javax.xml.parsers/how-to-read-xml-file-in-java.html

// get dom doc
DocumentBuilderFactory dbfac = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
DocumentBuilder docBuilder = dbfac.newDocumentBuilder();
Document doc = docBuilder.newDocument();
// Document doc = docBuilder.parse(new File(inputFilename));

// -- insert building dom here

// get dom transformer
TransformerFactory transfac = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
Transformer trans = transfac.newTransformer();
// make dom into something useful
FileWriter fw = new FileWriter(new File(outputFilename));
StreamResult result = new StreamResult(fw);
DOMSource source = new DOMSource(doc);
trans.transform(source, result);

World Map Update

2008-11-27T04:28:00.004+02:00

Explosions in Mumbai, have earned India a red dot.

World wide piracy also, can no longer be ignore.

I present, my most up to date "World Map of Places that are too dangerous or uncomfortable to live in"

Bored with blogging

2008-11-11T05:28:00.003+02:00

I'm bored with blogging. (For a while at least)

If you want to know what I've been up to - check out http://picasaweb.google.com/sybrand.strauss - I'm keeping that up to date.

Went biking in Kan an as kis

2008-10-22T05:37:00.004+02:00

Hmmm... why do I blog if Picasa Web is so much nicer?

More photos here - http://picasaweb.google.com/sybrand.strauss/KanAnAsKis#

Busy busy busy

2008-10-21T05:53:00.006+02:00

No blogging for a while now, because I've been VERY busy writing exams.

First thing, the most delayed - I have to document Daniels epic trip from Calgary to Montreal.

August 30, 2008 - Daniel leaves on an epic bike trip, from Calgary, to Montreal. Adina accompanies him on his 1st day.

September 3rd, 2008 - Daniel leaves on an epic bike trip, from Calgary, to Montreal. I accompany him an entire city block.

September 8, 2008 - Daniel leaves on an epic flight, from Calgary to Ottawa.

WindowsXP on HP dv2716ca

2008-09-06T06:42:00.006+02:00

XP can be installed and run on "Vista only" HP machines - at least on the dv2716ca - I have done so.

I don't like Vista. I gave it a fair chance, it was so bad - that I moved away from Microsoft completely, to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a dream compared to Vista. I like XP - but lets face it, it's dying (or being killed). The future is Linux, Tiger and Vista. I'm not going to hold onto XP, the reality is, that if Microsoft doesn't move forward, and doesn't kill XP - they will lose to Mac and GNU.

I can spew lots of negative things about Microsoft and HP at this point, for colliding to killing XP by deliberately hiding their XP drivers, but whatever. I wanted XP on my laptop, because neither Vista, nor Ubuntu is any good for the collection of computer games I have amassed over the years. I like computer games, that's why I like XP. Maybe one day Wine will be good enough - but I don't think so.

What follows, is a brief description of what is needed to get an HP Pavilion dv2716ca to boot Vista, XP and Ubuntu. The same should go for most dv2700.

I should put in here - HP does NOT recommend you do this. You probably will lose all support, and for all I know your warranty to. For that matter - don't hold me responsible if your computer is completely useless after doing all of this. Put on you adventure hat!

Install Ubuntu.

Resize your Vista partition. I booted into knoppix and used gparted. Sizes are up to you. Make a NTFS partition for your XP install, and leave the rest of the space unallocated, for your Ubuntu install. I created a 5 gig XP partition, it's enough for XP and nothing else, because I'll be installing my software on my Vista drive, and on a removable hard drive.
Install Ubuntu.

Create a slipstreamed XP install CD.

Your old XP code won't work, because it doesn't have the right drivers. If you slipstream it on Vista, your CD key might stop working. So you need to slipstream a XP install CD on an XP machine.

I don't have another XP machine, so I installed VirtualBox OSE on Ubuntu, and installed a copy of XP there.

You can do it manually, or the easy way, use nLite

I found my SATA drivers on the HP site, but they are on the Intel site also. (Intel Matrix Storage Manager - sp38088.exe)

Install XP and get back Ubuntu and Vista
XP will now work, but Vista and Ubuntu have disappeared.
There are a few million different ways to do this. Ubuntu is easy, but you need to fix Vista first, that's just how it goes. There are lots of places on the net that say how - I'm not going to repeat - Google it!
Getting Ubuntu back is easy also, I'm not going to pretend I know what bootloader you are using - so you have to figure that out. I used grub. Basically boot up Ubuntu with your live cd and Google it.

Install drivers
This the tricky bit. I spent a few hours using lspci on linux to identify drivers, and try them on XP. ALL the drivers are there. Mostly on the Intel site, and on the HP site. The only trick was the card reader - that took lots of searching.
The only thing I haven't been able to get to work thus far - is the sound. Well - it works, but plugging in the headphones doesn't mute the built in speakers.

Why I brought my bicycle to Canada

2008-09-01T05:21:00.002+02:00

The first time I went to lake Mini Wanker, I kept thinking to myself - "it would be nice to bring my mountain bike here".

So I did.

Sony Walkman (NWZ-B105F) on Ubuntu

2008-08-21T02:22:00.005+02:00

Every now and then Ubuntu isn't quite as user friendly as I'd like it to be - and I have to learn something new about linux.
This time, my dandy new Sony Walkman (NWZ-B105F) doesn't get auto-deteced when I plug it in. (It's being discontinued, so it's going for cheap at the sony store in Calgary)

Thanks to http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=866297 - it's not a problem - just use pmount to mount a device accessible by any user.

where is my walkman?
sudo fdisk -l
mount it!
pmount /dev/sdb1 /media/Walkman

Done! Ubuntu pops up with a link on my desktop to unmount it - but it doesn't work - so I have to do:
sudo umount /media/Walkman

ALTERNATIVELY!!!
Go to the Sony site, and download the new firmware. Then it just works. :)

What have I been up to?? Nothing much... Last thing of note was going to Saskatchamawoozle.

Oh boy... so so bad

2008-08-16T19:20:00.002+02:00

Ok ok - I'm getting really bad with updating the blog. If anyone out there cares, I suggest looking at http://picasaweb.google.com/sybrand.strauss for a while.... until winter comes.

When winter comes, and there's nothing else to do. I'll probably blog again.

Lake Minnewanka (Bears, Squirrels and Deer)

2008-06-27T07:34:00.003+02:00

So to Lake Minnewanka I did go. (My list of funny names in and around Calgary include: Shaganappi, Kananaskis, and best so for - Minnewanka)

By many I was warned of the bears. (Friends, rangers, random strangers....) But - as with many Canadian things - it's just about liability. There are no bears. (But keep up the rumors by all means - it makes for less people in the wild)

The only thing you are likely to encounter in Canada - is the mighty squirrel.

If you are a master of stealth (like me) you might see some deer.

You will also see water. Lots of water.

Banff

2008-06-17T15:59:00.002+02:00

"...destination for outdoor sports and features extensive hiking, biking..."

I'm sold. Sounds good.

Coordinates entered: WGS84
51°10'51.52"N
115°34'8.34"W

See you all later!

World Map (Updated)

2008-05-27T18:34:00.006+02:00

I've decided to create a world map, indicating non habitable zones of our planet. (These zones may however be nice to visit!)

It's much easier than indicating habitable zones.

Right now there are only three zones. Too Cold (white), Too Wet (blue), Too Dangerous (red)

- Updated after Johann complained, added other "Too Dangerous" areas.

Adventure Time In Toronto

2008-05-22T05:14:00.002+02:00

Recently, on a trip to Toronto, I found another Adventure Time fan.

Open Office - Outline Numbering (Springtime in Canada!)

2008-05-14T23:52:00.004+02:00

I've been a MS Word user for way too long. So much so, that I struggle to use Open Office some days.
So. Lesson for today - when you want to have outline headings (e.g. something that looks like:)
1 Heading 1
1.1 Heading 2
1.1.1 Heading 3
1.2 Heading 2
1.2.1 Heading 3
You have to go Tools -> Outline Numbering -> then modify every damn heading to show the appropriate amount of sub levels etc.

It's springtime in Canada!!!! (Translated for people from real countries: This means, it snows less, and when it does snow, it gets mushy real fast)

Spring in Alberta(Calgary): "Fear not! That snow will be gone in a few days!"

Spring in Ontario(Toronto): "Fear no longer homeless bum! No longer need you hide in the caverns the welfare state has provided for your life of drug abuse and mental instability! The streets belong to you now!"

Spring in Quebec(Gatineau): "Flower while you still can buddy! The camera don't show it, but I'm standing in snow!"

When it was almost spring....

2008-05-01T18:41:00.003+02:00

In March. Dave came to visit.

We went to Fernie.

My biicicle froze to the ground.

Chinatown, Toronto, Canada

2008-04-28T05:20:00.002+02:00

Johann requested a picture of Chinatown in Toronto

So here is one taken, at around noon today.

It's spring here. In Canadian terms, that means less snow.

2008-04-24T17:35:00.002+02:00

I flew to Toronto.

I spent a day there.

I went to New York.

Glorious powder

2008-04-21T23:02:00.003+02:00

Feb 15 - 17 Castle mountain was glorious. Powder. Oh magical powder. Best mountain in Alberta thus far.

Wind farms that seem to go on forever. Silly places called Beaver Mines (Like you can mine beavers! Come on!)

Bison. Wow. Positively Pleistocene feel to them. (Antediluvian for the fundamentalists out there)

Blogger unreliable?

2008-04-12T16:50:00.001+02:00

So - it's been a while since I blogged. (Caz complained)
Reasons for not blogging:
- I've been down & busy.
- Blogger lost one of my earlier blogs. :( Sometimes I put some serious creative power into this stupid blog. Having it stolen by the ether sucks.

I'll play catch up.
In February I was getting all excited about going to New York. In February I was very nervous - I didn't know if I'd be able to stay here or not. Even if I got to stay - there was a bleakness about the future...

February 12: Abandoned shoe, next to abandoned warehouse.

February 15: Dairy Queen (the Junk food adventure continues) - on the way to Castle Mountain.

The most boring sport on the planet

2008-02-21T22:39:00.004+02:00

From Shaganappi to Kananaskis. (I kid you not - the natives had tons of fun with the stupid European white monkeys)

Cross country skiing is not for me. But Kananaskis sure is pretty.

We saw a Cyote

We saw some Elkosaurus.

I'm looking forward to my trip to the states. I'm flying to Toronto with Westjet and then taking some kind of dog, converted into a bus to NY. I got a photo of another Westjet flight to Toronto, and it looks pretty cool!

Alberta - Hell frozen over

2008-02-12T07:43:00.000+02:00

In order to avoid the entrapping morass of cold induced depression, Canadians often do crazy crazy crazy (crazy!) things. Like climb frozen waterfalls.

Thanks to Darren - for taking us on one of the most memorable days of my life.

Comparative analysis of bacon

2008-01-31T09:13:00.000+02:00

When I first decided to embark on a journey to the North American continent, to explore and discover new uses of bacon, my family was very excited and supportive. If only they knew the horror that awaited me in Canada. Tim Hortons, Wendy's, Denny's, A&W ..... the horror... the horror....

Excitement:

Suspicion:

Regret:

Inglewood and Comments

2008-01-17T11:08:00.000+02:00

This is Inglewood. There are buttons you can press if you want to cross the road, it makes all the cars stop. IT'S AMAZING!

These are the shortcut keys to (un)comment out a line of code in visual studio:
"Ctrl+K, Ctrl+C
Comment out selection
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+U
Uncomment selection" (thanks random blogger)

City - Connection

2008-01-12T01:33:00.000+02:00

This is a panoramic view of Calgary, taken from the East, in a park right on Bow river, during sunset:

This is how you can connect to an Oracle database in Java realy easily using jdbc:

Class<?> driverClass = Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
driverClass.newInstance();
Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:xe", "username", "password");

You don't say

2008-01-02T05:31:00.000+02:00

Closed beach? You don't say!

There are a lot of silly signs in Calgary

Let's build a city in a wasteland

2007-12-25T05:38:00.000+02:00

Humans are stupid.

Venice - built on a sinking piece of land
Mexico - built on an active volcano
Los Angeles - built across a fault line

So - I went to Calgary.... built in what looks like hell frozen over.

Futile!!!

2007-12-13T08:03:00.000+02:00

Give up. Be depressed. Down. Sad. Negative. WHATEVER! It's no use buddy!!! You suck! No matter WHAT you do - no matter HOW down you feel. The sun is going to give an awesome show, every day.

Busy

2007-12-09T09:54:00.000+02:00

I've been very busy.

I said goodbye to Cape Town (amongst others)

I moved out of a place I called home.

I went to Maputo on business.
I said goodbye to Pretoria and it's fluffly clouds.

Dave thinks his blogger is better than mine. He's wrong. His blog sucks.

The crushing foot of life

2007-12-02T08:54:00.000+02:00

Sometimes.
Shit happens.
The color drains out of life.
The good stops, and everything fades to horror.
You are left empty, angry, destroyed, without hope.

Dry and dusty

2007-11-05T07:27:00.000+02:00

Namibia is a nice enough place. It's very big. Very.

.NET - unsigned assemblies

2007-10-30T11:49:00.000+02:00

Jyothish did some puzzle sovling - we had a unsigned .NET assembly, that we had to pull into unmanaged JNI code so we could call it from Java.

Problem was - you need signed assemblies to do it. The answer:

>sn -k Key.snk

>ildasm /out:MyHelper.il MyHelper.dll

>ilasm MyHelper.il /KEY=key.snk /DLL /OUTPUT=MyHelper.dll

The output can now be added to the global cache, and you can have a party

Life in the dessert

2007-10-28T03:47:00.000+02:00

I went to Namibia

Next time. I need to go longer.

Green and wet

2007-10-27T09:13:00.000+02:00

I like the forest.

It's a nice place.

It's alive.

Life in the forest

2007-10-23T08:13:00.000+02:00

I went to Magoebaskloof.

The Moon

2007-09-24T07:54:00.000+02:00

This is the moon.

Camera: Cannon ESO 300D
ISO: ISO 100
Exppsore: 1/500 sec
Lens: 8 inch newtonian (Celeston C8-NGT)

JAAS

2007-09-13T03:20:00.000+02:00

Hard lesson learnt, playing with JAAS & Tomcat.

When using basic authentication:
<login-config>
<auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
</login-config>
it is NOT possible to log out programatically. You have to close the browser.

session.invalidate() will do NOTHING!!

I'm not missing anything. It's just not possible. The browser keeps the credentials in memory, and keeps re-submitting it. So calling invalidate serves no purpose, as the very next thing you try, will just end up with you being logged in again.

Oracle - TOP N Queries

2007-09-03T01:52:00.000+02:00

If I forget how to do Oracle TopN queries ONE more time - I swear - pig will pay!

"SELECT *
 FROM (SELECT * FROM my_table ORDER BY col_name_1 DESC)
WHERE ROWNUM < N - http://orafaq.com/faq/how_does_one_select_the_top_n_rows_from_a_table

Pig parts.

2007-09-02T10:18:00.000+02:00

So it came to pass. Pig would part from the group. Hedgehog, leopard and monkey had a beer, whilst Pig drank OJ.

Baboon. Was silent.

Monkey: "I say pig! What will become of you?"
Pig: "It is decided. I will head North"
Hedgehog: "I have TB"
Leopard: "North you say? But Pig! North of here lies your death!"
Pig: "For too long, my kind Leopard... for too long have I denied the inevitable rot that must take my fleshy pinkness"

a silence descended upon the group.... broken by a sudden profound insight...

Baboon: "Hedgehog. The TB you speak of has already claimed your life. Leopard, your body has long since rotted away. Monkey, you are stupid... and Pig... my dear friend Pig.... it is I who urinated in your apple juice, giving it the appearance of OJ."

Around the world with my Russian bride

2007-08-30T04:24:00.000+02:00

It's amazing, how meeting one person, can set you free - and let you experience a world you always knew existed....

A match made in heaven

2007-08-29T11:35:00.000+02:00

"Why has Sybrand not blogged in so long?" - I hear you ask. Fear not mortals, I live still.

I've just been so busy. My Russian Bride and I have been traveling soooooo much.

The Russian Bride Arrives

2007-07-25T11:00:00.000+02:00

Finally! After weeks of waiting! My Russian bride has arrived!

Aren't we a cute couple?

Professor Mamba & Associates cc

2007-07-18T11:20:00.000+02:00

It's all better now.

My problems are solved.

A combination of 19, followed by some 22 and a bit of 5 and 6 is sure to keep me smiling.
14 and 8 will keep my pocket happy.
I can finally get rid of that troubling bad spell on my home (3), I'm just not sure if I want back my lost lover (2) - she's been lost for a long time, and that's just fine by me - she put the spell there to begin with!

Foetal position

2007-07-16T05:39:00.000+02:00

I can't really take it right now. I've assumed the foetal position until....

Today - was a difficult day

2007-07-15T09:35:00.000+02:00

Polar Aligment - M4

2007-07-10T10:19:00.000+02:00

It's not so much the light. Yes sure. Light pollution is a bitch.... it's alignment.

I can't see celestial south!!! So it's BLOODY hard to get alignment right.

[I stupidly thought I was looking at M80 - wrong - this is M4]

www.russianbrides.com

2007-07-08T08:59:00.000+02:00

Dave, Johann and I, donned our don't $%$! with me clothes - and missioned to Park station. (As seen on TV)

We were there for two seconds, before they kicked us out for looking to much like Al Qaeda terror suspects. (I put this down to a combination of the Boeremag, 9/11, and us wearing our don't $%$! with me clothes - the two still cameras, video camera, and the tripod, no doubt soon to be deployed in some sinister action....)

The theme of our photographic adventure - was to be "transport".

Undaunted - we proceeded to Mandela bridge, from where many trains, train tracks, and a mysterious structure we could not gain access to are to be seen.

I love Johannesburg!!! It's the nicest not nice place I know.

Details

2007-07-03T11:59:00.000+02:00

Damn - details. Note to self - remember to focus lens before taking photo.

It still look[s] stunning at low res - but this means I'm visiting the Union buildings again....

Nothing worthwhile

2007-06-27T10:49:00.000+02:00

It's getting me down.

I haven't done anything worth blogging about in weeks.

As a temporary measure, I went to the center of Pretoria (with Johann) and took a panoramic shot.

Private Party

2007-06-05T10:12:00.000+02:00

I should be studying. Instead. I organized a private party.

I invited some friends I met in Mozambique.

The Humble Rat

2007-05-31T10:06:00.000+02:00

I know someone who doesn't like rats much. I accept this failing, as I accept many failings in many friends of mine.

However. I feel I need to explore this. Since, the same person doesn't have anything against dogs. (I like dogs as much as rats. I really like rats. Some people don't think I like dogs. But they are wrong.)

Crazy mad

2007-05-20T10:03:00.000+02:00

I had a long chat with Dave, to establish if I'm insane. The final conclusion, is that I am merely crazy. Crazy is good. So it's fine.

Isabel says I make a good leg of lamb.

Almost para gliding sucks. It almost sucks as much as clouds after you spend an hour carting a telescope to a dark spot. Behold Venus and the Moon - in their full glory - before the night is obscured by clouds!

Johann and I have made another wager. I have given coke up for another year. Or was it till the end of the year? Damn!

Sodwana

2007-05-15T00:44:00.000+02:00

Went diving at Sodwana. Met up with Adina at Hluhluwe. 6 dives. Lots of pretty creatures. Lots of driving.

Pig Out

2007-05-03T09:39:00.000+02:00

So. I purchased a remote control for my Canon.

To celebrate, I invited everyone over for a traditional pig & burger evening.

Tim gave me all his photos of our extreme Zanzibar Zanzibar experience. (Including one of me ironing)

I started practicing the ultimate Southern Cross photo. But too much moon, and too many clouds doomed my attempts.

Zombie

2007-04-23T09:30:00.000+02:00

I regret to inform everyone - that I have turned into a Zombie.

As such I will not be able to blog for a while.

Extreme weekend

2007-04-15T09:40:00.000+02:00

Another extreme weekend behind me. I went to a rugby match (go Bulls!!!) - and pushed my extreme ironing skills up a notch.

This brings up an interesting South African phenomenon. As if getting hijacked, is as inevitable as a slippery road, fog, or falling rocks.

The idea of getting car jacked is almost as scary as a packed stadium of Bulls supporters.

Kilimanjaro etc.

2007-04-11T09:47:00.000+02:00

So I've done it.

The biggest single physical challenge of my life.

I've seen the sun rise from the highest point on this, my continent, Africa.

I've ironed on the roof of the world.

I've gazed in awe, at the moonlit vista of snow and glaciers on the equator.

Thanks to Tim - for joining me on one of the great adventures of my life.

With the whole mountain incident behind me. Zanzibar was the next destination.

Having seen the sun rise from the top of the world, I watched the sun set over the bottom a few times.

Dolphins mocked me.

Tim and I took the ironing board to the other extreme.

I met some great people

Musical neo-imperialist friends:
Kyle summited a few minutes ahead of my group.
Karoline I met in Zanzibar. She was smart enough to not climb the mountain.
Commonwealth friends:
Sarah & the drunken Slav summited a few days ahead of us.
Adena Israel is traveling down the east coast of Africa all by herself - be careful Adena! The world needs you.

Poker

2007-03-25T11:02:00.000+02:00

As a farewell to myself - I organized a poker game.

Don't you feel bad for not being invited?

I suspect there were a few losers, who didn't have hats, and as such could not play poker.

Quality & price of hat - it seems - was in the end not a factor. As the person we all agree on as having the best hat - sucks at poker.

Evil

2007-03-21T07:28:00.000+02:00

Know that my blog has been used for evil.

Know that I am not happy about this.

Know that despite my finger hovering over delete, I have chosen that evil can not rule my life, as such the blog will continue.

Know that my blog will be filled with lies. Know that no word spoken here will be a true reflection of my life. Know that I will create a fantastical alternate reality. Know that I will bend truth, with light. Know that I will construct elaborate falsehoods using images taken out of context. Know that I am lying to you. Know that you cannot even trust the fact that I'm telling you I'm going to lie to you, as that too may be a lie. Know that if you have read this much already, I'm keeping you out of work, or away from play. Know that your life is slowly being used up reading this useless crud.

Know that this is a view from atop a 1000M high mountain:

Know that this is a snake, nearly stepped upon in darkness:

Know that this is said snake seen from close up:

Know that this is an artist who nearly stepped upon a snake:

It ends

2007-03-07T11:38:00.000+02:00

No more.

It's over.

Total Lunar Eclipse

2007-03-04T08:36:00.000+02:00

The Event:
From time to time, the Universe puts on an AMAZING show. All one has to do, is pitch up. The 3rd of March, 2007 - was such a day. The event. A total Lunar eclipse.

Preparation:
Preparation for such events is VITAL. I packed my 8 inch Newtonian telescope, I charged and packed my Celestron power pack for the scope. I charged batteries for my Sony DSC-V1, and Canon 300D. I purchased ISO400 and ISO100 film, for my old school SLR. I packed a tripod. I purchased a Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000, and modified it by removing it's lens. I downloaded, installed, and tested remote capture software for the Canon. I experimented with the Quickcam Pro capture software, and made more adjustments to my modified webcam.

Getting there:
I drove to the other side of town, where I could have an unobstructed view of the celestial marvel about to unravel. I started unpacking my equipment, and settled into a good position.

Show time:

As the moon contacted the umbra - it started raining.

The payoff:

2001

2007-02-24T10:28:00.000+02:00

This is what the planet looked like on the day Carli and Caz got married (less than 1km away). It's Clarens - and if my memory serves me correctly - it's 2001. Instead of confetti, everyone blew bubbles.

As legend would have it, this is also what the planet looked like on the day that Susan and Daniel met.

Earlier that year, in an unrelated event, shortly before my birthday - a misunderstanding resulted in an incident in New York.

Back in 2001 I used to hang with this crowd....
At the time, Altie wasn't a pro cyclist, and didn't know that was her fate. Lynn was a groupie. Val wasn't working in a bank. Leon... well... I don't know how he ended up in this photo. Me. I was finding a new way. Marita had met an old friend again... I miss Lynn.

Anna doesn't know it - but she helped me find what I was looking for.

She was too aloof, selfish and closed in to realize. But then - so was I - and I suspect we helped each other in our own selfish way. We parted ways. I miss her still.

My career was taking off, and so was I.

So much had come to an end in 2000, and 2001 - that in a way - 2001 was when everything started for me. Everything that had come before - was no longer valid. Did not apply. Was redundant. Removed. Impossible. Gone. Taken away. Stolen away. Robbed. Beaten. Destroyed.

2001. Was when it all ended. 2001 was when it all started.

There were no aliens at Jupiter. That still gets me.

Saturn @ Opposition / Canon 300D vs. Labtech Webcam vs. JPL Spacecraft

2007-02-13T11:08:00.000+02:00

Saturn is glorious.

My skills as astro-photographer, do not do him justice. He's at opposition right now. The Cassini division in the ring jumps out at you. Several bands crossing the surface of the planet can be seen as well.

It's glorious.

From left to right: Webcam (8 inch newtonian, stacked frames), Canon (8 inch newtonian, 2 layered images), JPL (Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, 4.5cm telescope)

In my defense, I might have a bigger aperture than JPL's toy.... but I don't have as good a CCD, and I'm looking from Centurion, whereas they get to go in orbit!!!

COM and CUNT (this is NOT an obscene blog!)

2007-02-13T10:41:00.000+02:00

I keep on forgetting this. It is vitally important. So I'm blogging it.

When doing serial coms, remember that you have to do funny things like this: "\\\\.\\COM10"

I know what it means.

In other news, my flight number to Cape Town is 72CUNT. What are they trying to say? Am I passenger 72?

It has come to my attention that some people think this is an obscene blog entry. SHAME ON YOU for reading into my blog entry what could only exist in your dirty mind!

You can't have it

2007-02-04T10:58:00.000+02:00

Muddled, ranting. Fighting as a means to resolve problems. Words. Feelings. Interspersed rational comments. I'm giving up coke for another year. Emotions. Hairy monsters. Barking mad. I'm giving up another addiction for a year. Dead horses. Flogging dead horses. A metaphor only. Apart from tanning leather there's no reason to flog dead things.

You wouldn't guess it. But the image to the right, is to me, a reminder that when you lose everything, it's not the end. It reminds me that you can lose everything and still remember it. It reminds me that remembering things rather sucks, if all you want is to have them. What you remember may never have existed either. You remember a fantasy that never existed. Doesn't matter. You lost it anyway. Having things "always be with you" is rather crap. I don't want to remember it. I want to have it. But I can't. So I'll just get over it shall I?

To you it's just some dried mud and stuff. To me it symbolizes so much more.

Over here, in this area right here -> [ ] <- back there. Is everything I want to say. But won't. You can put your own words there. Your words are wrong. Only my words are correct. So it's pointless. Find me. Walk up to me. Tell me what the words are, and I'll tell you if you are correct. NO NO. You know who I'm talking to. It's you. Not you.

It's all over. It's raining. There are clouds. I can't see the Moon. There is nothing left. But to start anew. Start nothing. Nothing at all. There is nothing.

Clouds

2007-01-28T10:36:00.000+02:00

Time enough for only one hat trick, before the clouds moved in. :( I really want a CCD. But I am too poor. All the webcams I can get my hands on, have CMOS chips. Sigh.

My Canon sensor is getting dirty. Time for a service?

At least it would seem I'm getting better results with the hat trick!!! It's not just my imagination, that the image is better is it?

Saturn - I need better equipment

2007-01-22T01:36:00.000+02:00

I must be doing something wrong. Naah. I blame the equipment. I thought I was messing up the focus, so I spent a lot of time practicing. In the end, I think the Canon is to blame. I suspect it's the shutter causes everything to vibrate. Can I be sure? Only one way to find out.... a decent CCD camera.... Sigh.... that costs money. Compared to what you see with the naked eye - this picture is up to sh#t.

Caz keeps on asking for a photo of the telescope, so here goes. ;)

Amateur Astronomy in Pretoria

2007-01-19T11:39:00.000+02:00

So - as luck would have it - there was no rain! And very few clouds. I got word that the Amateur Astronomy Society of Pretoria would be setting up at CBC.

I got to see the comet a second time. Photo below taken at ISO 100, f9, 10 second exposure. Using CANON EOS 300D.

Too a photo of people standing around their telescopes. ISO 800, f2.8, 30 second exposure. Sony DSC-V1. Wasn't planning it that way - but you can see the Southern Cross rising.

It's raining!!!

2007-01-17T10:34:00.000+02:00

No. I can't use my telescope in the rain!

Long exposre - v.s. Layering

2007-01-08T11:20:00.000+02:00

So it's not as simple, as just layering a bunch of pictures on top of each other....

On the left - one single long exposure. On the right, a bunch of images layered on top of each other.

Maybe I should ask someone smart if there's a better way?

Astrophotography - layering

2007-01-07T02:21:00.000+02:00

So this weekend, I started getting a feel for my 8" without the moon interfering, and a few kilometers away from the worst city lights.

Equipment again: 8" Newtonian & Canon 300D (you can see from the Tarantula photo - that the Canon introduces a lot of garbage... will have to see what we can do about that)

---
m42
---

I started of with good old Orion again. 10 second exposure at ISO1600. No star trails! Amazing - considering that polar alignment consisted of me guessing the general direction of South!

I've gotten rid of the shakes - Canon has some nice software for taking photos via USB - so you don't have to touch the shutter.

---
ngc2070
---

Went on to something much cooler - the Tarantula Nebula (ngc2070) - which was cool, because as a bonus I got a globular star cluster in as well! (ngc2100)

For Tarantula, I tried out taking multiple exposures, and overlaying them. What you see - are 5 exposures, 4 seconds each, at ISO 1600. I couldn't take longer than that - because my polar alignment was too bad.

A problem with XSL transformations in Java 1.5

2007-01-05T00:07:00.000+02:00

If you are like me, you probably tried to use javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource as your XSLT source, and your XML source.

If you are like me - you spent hours and hours, trying to figure out why your XML wasn't being transformed.

I don't know why. But you HAVE to use javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource.

Making the code:
// get the files
File xsdFile = new File("xsd/xml.xml");
File xslFile = new File("xsd/xsl.xsl");
// turn them into stream sources
StreamSource xsltSource = new StreamSource(xslFile);
StreamSource xsdSource = new StreamSource(xsdFile);
// get transformation stuff
TransformerFactory transformerFactory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
Transformer transformer = transformerFactory.newTransformer(xsltSource);
// set up for sending the output to screen
StreamResult scrResult = new StreamResult(System.out);
// transform
transformer.transform(xsdSource, scrResult);

My first deep space foto

2007-01-02T10:59:00.000+02:00

This is my very first (and I mean that literally) photo of a deep space object (something not in our solar system) taken through a telescope.

It's the Orion Nebula (M42/NGC1976). Seeing as my scope isn't aligned at the least - I'm pretty impressed. Just as luck would have it - there's a meteor streaking by as well!

Equipment: Canon 300D, 8 Inch Newtonian
Exposure: 30 seconds, ISO 1600

The picture was actually horribly overexposed (there's a full moon out) so I had to touch it up a bit.

I also finally have a semi decent photo of the moon!

It's called "prime focus"

2006-12-29T11:33:00.000+02:00

I'm still battling with clouds!!! I have yet to take a single photo, without a cloud obscuring my vision!

Getting a handle on the webcam settings!

Best thing this far, is "prime focus". Which basically means - you have no secondary lens, only a primary. It seems to work rather well! Registax certainly likes it a lot more.

There is of course some minor touching up being done (unsharp mask, change to b&w - and dropping images down to 320x240 from 640x480)

Getting better already....

2006-12-27T10:31:00.000+02:00

I've been reading up on astrophotography a bit.

Modified my logitech webcam to have a bit of a nicer fit. Used framestacking with Registax
It also helped that it wasn't AS cloudy. But I'm still taking photos through clouds.

First time!

2006-12-26T10:42:00.000+02:00

Not much to look at. But this is my first photo, taken with a webcam. With this, I now officially have become a webcam astrophotographer.

For the technically inclined, it was taken with a crappy 4" newtonian telescope, with the moon low on the horizon, and partially obscured by clouds. (It's been raining for weeks!) I still have to find the exact specs of the webcam...

I'm still waiting for my kick ass celestron to be delivered, so I got frustrated, and starting playing with toys that I can hook up to it.

The Forbidden Country

2006-12-12T10:49:00.000+02:00

A few years ago. Johannesburg, was a no go zone. Pasty white South Africans deserted it.

Even before handing it over to the "new regime". It was grim. Dirty. DANGEROUS. Hillbrow had been going backwards since the 60's. Finally turning into hell in the late 80's, early 90's. No-one cared. No-one realized.

Apartheid ended. And it was very convenient to blame decay on black people. The prevailing theory of pasty whites being, that black people were too stupid to live in a city. Black people were too busy celebrating the fact that they were no longer too stupid to live in cities. New South Africa gave EVERYONE the right to be stupid.

There were bananas everywhere. Bananas being the first industry to see promise in a New South Africa City. Don't ask me why. But in South Africa, a sure fire sign that a city is going to hell, is the amount of bananas you can buy on the sidewalk, and the amount of pawn shops, porn shops, and loan sharks.

Last week, we decided to see what the new regime had done about the banana problem.

All sorted. The crappy city left behind by pasty whites, has turned into a vibrant, lively, cleanish, safe city. (The parts we dared to enter at least - most of it is still a dangerous hell hole)

If you want a different perspective, follow this link to the blog of some racist asshole who blames all the misery in his life on black people, because he can't oppress them anymore.