Musings of The Spawn
Aug. 7th, 2008
04:13 pm - QR codes and Mobile Phones
A solution to a problem I've had for years:
I want the quickest way to get a URL I'm looking at on my screen to my phone. In seconds, ideally.
I don't want to email it to myself, save the URL as a note and bluetooth it to myself, store it as a shared bookmark somewhere and retrieve that, all of these things I have tried and are a pain in the arse.
I recently (while attempting to obfuscate a link so that I could show a friend without them realising it was quite obscene) remembered url.ie.
If you've not heard of them before, their site shortens long URLs (much like tinyurl.com, et al). But they do two other nifty things that I'd not noticed before:
| * They have a bookmarklet (a smart bookmark that takes your current page's URL and shortens it in one click) * They automatically create a QR Code for each shortened URL |
Example QR code |
This means that in a single click, I can turn the URL of the page I'm currently looking at into a QR code - this is an evolution of the barcode, that can store more data, but still be easily machine-read. They can store free text, URLs, phone numbers and so-forth, and your phone can read them with software that uses the built-in camera.
So, I grabbed a QR reader (you have to sign up, but it works well - there's another one here, and more exist), installed it and bingo!
The process to get a URL onto my phone is now:
* One click on the url.ie bookmarklet, so my browser now shows QR code for that page
* Open QR reader on my phone (set up as a shortcut)
* Point phone at screen
* Enjoy delicious, tasty win.
Obviously, the URL can be anything, so if you're looking at the map to the place you're about to go to and are just dashing out of the door (happens to me quite often) then you can pop that URL (and thus the image) onto your phone in a few seconds. I had, once, taken to photographing the screen (the idea of planning my journeys better never entered my mind).
Anyone got quicker ways to solve this problem?
11:29 am
How typical is that......
The weather has been miserable here for days and days - at least everyday that we have not been in work. And today, the day we are going to Manchester where there is no sun in the overgrown garden, the sun comes out and it is really pleasant and hot outside!!!
I am very tempted to pour a beer, sit in the garden and travel to Manchester tomorrow morning - but if I do that it will only start raining - LoL
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/grumpy.gif){kind=small}
frustratedAug. 6th, 2008
11:41 pm
I think I'm gonna try and sleep......
Not holding out much hope of success given the stuffy weather but I shall try!!!
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/silly.gif){kind=small}
weird01:52 pm - Crime Scene Redux
Shortly after wrecking the baby gate...
01:34 pm - Crime Scene
Corben does not let things get in his way. I was in the bathroom for ten minutes, heard a clang, and returned to this.
12:49 am
Damn, 300 is an awesome film. Havent seen it since it came out but was on tonight. Fucking awesome.
Aug. 5th, 2008
01:10 pm
I went through a long period of hardly posting to LiveJournal - especially towards the end of last year......but it appears I am posting much more often recently - and I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing......or perhaps just a thing!!!
Last month I posted everyday - the first time that has happened since November 2005!!!
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/okay.gif){kind=small}
okay01:24 am
After four years, i may be finally getting SLI working in my PC.
The price of the relevent "other" gfx card to double up with my current one have gone down in price enough, that i may have just found one for sub £30 when they were almost 10x that amount when they came out.
Schweet.
Reminds me of the first time i booted this PC up and played Battlefield 2, and was amazed that i could see the tiniest cracks in the road when before it was nothing but a formless blur with a colour palette thrown at it.
Good times.
Aug. 4th, 2008
10:32 pm
Half of the car swap day has been successful - we now have a silver Rover 416 parked on our drive. Unfortunately it will have to stay there for more than just a few days as we cannot tax it as the insurance certificate hasn't arrived in the post yet - so much for online car tax renewals and all that......it just doen't work at the time they are actually needed :-(
But it seems so far that the car was a good purchase - it looks smart both inside and out, started immediately and drove back without any issues. The only problems we have found so far are that the radio display is faulty and a little bubbling of the paint around the rear wheel arches. Long term the radio display will not be a problem as we will be fitting the CD player that came out of the ZX.
The other half of the car swap day has been less successful - we still have the ZX because the bidder making a cash offer has not 'phoned to arrange payment and collection so the eBay auction will just have to run its course. We have bidders so it will sell although I really hope it goes higher then it's at right now! Having said that, if it doesn't then it is not an issue as money for someone to come and collect it means we don't have the hassle of disposing of it.
okay01:55 pm - Ahhhhh....nice and quiet now
When the DC tards restored the old server, they didn't restore the config files I'd customized, and in most cases just reverted back to the defaults.
I had NO FREAKIN IDEA just how MUCH brute force attempt traffic you see with SSH1 enabled and SSH set to the default / main server IP. Holy crap! I just changed it and voila....peace has been restored to the valley. And it was good. And the peasants - if there were any - would be happy and gleeful.
Yes, my fictional peasants are GLEEFUL, dammit! And HA! I laugh in the face of your puny attempts to storm my castle!
01:29 pm - The last HOPE....for those of us who didn't make it
( Avast, ye matey! Thar be videos behind dis cut! )
Plenty more HOPE-goodness there on YouTube, this is just a starter packet :)
08:43 pm - STALKER: Clear Sky
I am so fucking excited about this game, almost as much as Spore and thats saying something. The first STALKER was amazing, but had some flaws and bugs which took away from the almost perfect realism and atmosphere.
From the looks of these videos, especially the first one, they've surpassed perfect.
http://stalker.deepsilver.com/videos.ph
05:47 pm - dear lazyweb,
Good Nintendo DS homebrew pointers, anyone?
(already-developed stuff, not so bothered about developing for it myself)
04:32 pm - Awesome. I'll start tomorrow!
What's in Semen?
Obviously, semen contains spermatozoa, but sperm accounts for only a small percentage of spunk. Cum is 90 percent seminal fluid, which is composed of dozens of chemical components. The base of seminal fluid is primarily fructose (sugar) and proteins, with many other trace minerals and substances. Here's a listing of some of semen's ingredients:
* Sugars: Fructose, sorbitol, inositol
* Proteins and amino acids: glutathione, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), creatine
* Minerals: Phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, calcium, potassium
* Vitamins: Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin B12, choline
* Hormones: Testosterone, prostaglandins
* Body byproducts: Lactic acid, urea, uric acid, nitrogen
Is Eating Cum Healthy?
Healthy semen (that is, cum produced by a well-nourished, disease-free male) may in fact be not only safe to eat, but actually good for you. Seminal fluid, the base of cum, is a veritable nutrient-rich soup. Semen is a source of highly concentrated, high-quality protein. In dietary terms, it's comparable to egg whites or gelatin. Besides protein, semen contains high concentrations of some minerals, such as zinc, and trace amounts of other important nutrients, like calcium and magnesium. While you shouldn't depend on a shot of cum to get your recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals, swallowing semen on a regular basis can't hurt as a dietary supplement.
12:27 am - Not the weekend I'd planned...
I remember thinking Friday that I'd work for just a few hours Saturday morning, then have the rest of the weekend to get somethings done on the house. Big plans, I had....yes, big plans.
And then, Friday night, the billing/client support system stopped working on the server...and here we are, Sunday night. Luckily I can reschedule my weekend to happen sometime during the week. It may not have the same feel, but I can pretend pretty good.
And yet...today was the day of a major victory. Small and possibly insignificant to the rest of the world, yet major to me.
Not only wrote, but ran, and it WORKED! I wrote a script that would uninstall MailScanner from the old server. And it worked! Squeeee! A small thing, indeed, like baking my first cake, using a recipe. But I baked that cake, and it didn't fall, and it came out moist and squishy.
And speaking of moist and squishy...in checking the server reports (of when there's a software update, and the applications that have changed - by failing the MD5 hash check), I saw this and it made me think of someone I talked to today. Wonder if he'll know I'm talking about him? *big smile*
/usr/bin/wish: FAILED
/bin/sleep: FAILED
/bin/touch: FAILEDAug. 3rd, 2008
10:01 pm
It is the begining of August.....
It is supposed to be summer!!!
Why the fuck am I sat inside with a jumper, thick jeans, boots and a scarf - and still shivering???
It is also supposed to be my holiday.....
Why am I not out partying :(
Not that I can cos I am sooooooo skint - but the opportunity would be nice.
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/sad.gif){kind=small}
unhappy08:40 pm - Zombie game again
Was bored, and after coming across a post i made a little while ago i decided to try out my zombie game again.
http://gajita.livejournal.com/371879.ht
Thrashed the previous high score by almost 200 points, survived 4 more rounds, but still only rescued 2 out of 4 civilians.
New high score is 275 points, death after round 18, and 2 civilians. Thats 258 zombies killed. True, they were only pennies and other coins but they still scared the shit outta me.
03:56 am - Curse of the Money / The Money Returns
So today was one of those days which make me think that I'm wasting my life.
I slept late, then faffed online for a couple of hours (including being a bit of a git on ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
strangepixel's LJ while sparing someone else. Odd mood, I guess), before hunting cash.
I found my way to the nearest Shopping, because I'd been informed that there was a cashpoint there. Unfortunately the only ones I found were not international. Let me explain, unlike most countries, where you can use credit cards in almost every ATM machine, Brazil has a lot of different cashpoints that either don't work with other banks, or charge an extortionate amount for the privilege. None of these cashpoints work with international cards.
So I followed the signs to the Caixa Electrônica, only to find that none of them accepted my card. Fighting through the waxing feeling of disappointment that I'd have to eat every meal in the hotel and not go to Bar Pinguim, I tried heading deeper into the Shopping Centre to see if there were other signposts. I found an information booth with a very helpful young lady, who managed to direct me to the other end of the shopping centre, where neither the exchange nor the cashpoints accepted international credit cards. However I ended up setting foot into the Wal-Mart, only the second time I've entered one, and found a suitable cash machine.
I then went to the food-court and a por kilo, where I managed to obtain food, but had a more difficult time obtaining beer or a receipt, much to the bemusement of the staff. I certainly didn't understand the need for a "document" or a number in order to get a receipt.
It all worked out and they persuaded me to have another beer. Well, asked.
I then wandered out and saw a cinema, so decided to see what was on. I want to see Batman at an IMAX, so I decided to go and see A Mumia: Tumba do Imperador Dragão (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor). Mistake.
It was bloody awful. I nearly walked out. I'm not sure if it was improved or harmed by the fact that quite a lot of it was in Chinese with Portuguese subtitles. Anyway, where to begin? Originally I thought Jet Li's role in Lethal Weapon 4 was a travesty, an outrage. Unfortunately his subsequent career established that it was merely a trend. This film does little to buck that, although, frankly, he doesn't do very much. The best thing about the film was the end credits; that's not an indictment of the film itself, well it is, but the animated end credits were creative and aesthetically pleasing use of computer graphics; for the only time in the film.
To be fair, fate had tried to stop me. I managed to buy a ticket to what I thought was the 17:10 showing, but then the usher wouldn't let me in. "Doublado" he kept saying incredulously and pointed to the 18:10 displayed on the ticket.
I gave up and nearly abandoned the whole thing when I realised that I'd have to wait an extra hour and thought about walking back to the ticket desk and demanding "Dinheiro" or just abandoning it as a bad job. Later I realised that doublado meant 'dubbed' and that the ticket person had refused t sell me a ticket to a film I couldn't understand, which made me feel better. I also realised that the light was dimming outside, so exploration was less feasible, so I found a coffee shop for an espresso and a side of humourous misunderstanding. I then spent a load of time contemplating whether to buy a dictionary and scrutinising the back of a DVD box-set of all four seasons of "Cidade de Homem" trying to see if it had legendas ingles.
And then I went back to the cinema.
( Long Summary: Contains 'Spoilers' )
After that I went to the Chopperia for some food. The Antarctica was a little bland, but the escura (dark) was very good.
I ordered the Muqueca, a sort of fish stew, that was excellent and, unusually, a good-sized portion, rather than excessive. The chopps kept coming, even after I'd decided to stop. Apparently me biting my thumbnail looked liked drinking from a drinking horn, or something. So remember kids, don't suck your thumb!
I walked home again, not having achieved very much, caught the end of the Mummy Returns, watched the Scorpion King and then caught the rerun of the Mummy 2. No doubt it will also be on again tomorrow morning. To be honest, I may have done the Mummy 3 a disservice; although I remember vaguely enjoying the second Mummy film, it does seem to contain many of the same scenes as the the third.
I guess I should think about bed.
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/pink/tired.gif){kind=small}
drainedAug. 2nd, 2008
09:37 pm - Update
Said for a long time that i wouldnt, but the other day i bought counter strike : source.
Why the hell havent i been playing this all along? Its awesome. I even recognise some of the weapons by sight thanks to my wonderful encyclopedia of guns. Steyr AUG for the win \m/.
Seriously though, if you like FPS games and are insane like me and have never played CS untill now, go get it. Its only about a tenner on Steam and is totally worth it.
I would watch out for the learning curve though. I've always been pretty good at FPS's, definitely above average (because to be honest, my mind isnt built for strategy games, i find sims boring, and i ultimately lose interest in RPG grinding), but im having a tough time getting up to par with the other people in the servers im playing on.
Everybody is really good at it, headshotting from a distance where you cant even make out their heads without squinting. Still, i ended a game earlier with 140 frags and 160 deaths, so thats not a bad ratio after 3 days of playing it.
Still not great though...
Other than that, im reading a lot still.
Finished the Ravenor series of books, which are a spin off from the Eisenhorn series (all by Dan Abnett) and they were amazing. Such a long story, but totally worth it at the end.
Now reading the first omnibus of the Gaunts Ghosts series (yeah, Dan Abnett again) as well as Chopper 2 : How to shoot friends and influence people by Mark Brandon Read.
Loving both of them.
The only downside atm is my lack of money, and therefore a lack of going to the gym. Sucky. I feel fat, loose, unfit, and therefore lacking my usual jocular attitude. Seems sad that a lot of my confidence, mood, and positive attitude is based on the amount of muscle mass present on my frame at the time, but it looks to me thats exactly the case.
Still doing bodyweight circuits like pullups, pushups, single arm pushups, squats, crunches, etc etc. Doing some sprints and grip work where i can. Just doesnt seem enough to me. I need to lift heavy things or i go nuts.
01:54 pm - Among the Curipira
In the depths of the forest live a mischievous folk called the Curupira. The Curupira resemble boys with red hair, but their feet are on backwards. They delight in leading astray the intruders into the forest, who, by following the trails, head deeper and deeper, never to return. They are still invoked, apparently, for it is a saying in Brazil, when one becomes lost, that one was "following" or "taken by" the Curupira.
I am in Riberão Preto; I arrived late last night after a long journey. My companions have continued on to the warmth of their own hearths and left me here to fend for myself.
I have literally no money; I have only the clothes on my back1. I scavenged for food2 in the hotel so that I could add it to the bill and managed to forget my room number almost as soon as I had left, so I had to learn the lesson of the Curupira and retrace my own steps.
I have been told about two things in Riberão Preto: the Curupira Park and the Pinguim (Penguin) Bar. The latter is reputed to sell the best Chopp (Draught Beer) in all of Brazil. The former is supposed to be... nice3.
Last night was a bit blurry. I have had a long week: 4-5 hours sleep a night, mostly working, eating and worrying about eating so much with so little exercise. I 'phoned home, full of end-of-the-week perkiness, but couldn't call everybody. I intended to, but then zoned out for at least half an hour, which took it beyond the acceptable. I had some food, watched a film with Heath Ledger that I'm sure I've seen before, but can't remember, and still missed the ending somehow. I awoke at about 9am and the TV was off. I wonder if there's a Time-stealing Tupi Trickster?
I then went back to sleep and awoke, went back to sleep and so on. It's a bit grey out there; surprisingly so. Unless the windows are tinted. I might leave the park until tomorrow. I should really go out and get some food, which involves finding money.
Speaking of money, the third thing that was recommended (which I had forgotten) was the women: apparently I should take some and spend it on one. I presume that they're very attractive. I should spend about 100 to 150 Reals. Per hour. They were most insistent. The thing is, that I don't actually know what I'm supposed to buy them for and I didn't dare ask. I think it's just to keep you company, given the "prepaid girls" that we didn't visit on Thursday evening, but I'm in the dark.
1 And some spare clothes, a map, a camera, a music player, laptop, cables, credit card, passport et cetera. But, really, no Reals and, curiously, insufficient pants.
2 A positively sumptuous Palmito soup (I love Palmito) and a far-too-big Filet Mignon with Mushroom sauce (also delicious).
3 Hey, welcome to São Paolo state; where the cities are lucky to have one sehenswürdigkeit (tourist attraction, sight-to-see, attraction). Apparently the best thing about Sertãozhino is the road leading through it. On the other hand, I am missing the Japanese centenary festival in Guaira.
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/pink/mellow.gif){kind=small}
refreshedNavigate: (Previous 20 Friends)