Taking Some Time
I am currently working on my last project of the semester. Basically, a client-server application I need to build from the ground up. Along with that, I’m gonna start a new job soon. My first professional, actually in my profession, work. Which means, I am very much trying to keep myself busy with the things I need to do. I have some things I want to write but those will have to wait until I can concentrate on anything other than work. Until then, this blog is going on hiatus. Until mid-September at least. So no worries.
Posted in No Category, School by Eran with comments disabled.
Kids and Strangers
I’ve been reading the Free Range Kids blog for a little while now. This blog came out of a book, written by the blogger Lenore, about the idea that kids are not unsafe if you leave them alone and when you give them responsibility, whether they are 16 years old, 11 years old or even 6-7 years old, you’re not endangering them but empowering them. And on top of that, the fact that current society sees all of these activities as dangerous to kids is borderline psychotic. It has been interesting so far, but the first post I would really like to talk about is this one. The story actually starts in this post (linked inside the new one as well) about the Virgin-Air Airline who forced a man to move from his seat just because he was seated next to two boys, 8 and 10 years old. The 33-year-old firefighter was immediately suspected as a secret pedophile just because he was male. This is a great blow to this man’s honor and to human decency in general. After that story was posted, Lenore posted two letters she got in response. One stating how right Virgin Air is of their action because 99% of pedophiles are male (so, by obvious “logic”, 99% of males are pedophiles, right?) and another one, which I linked to first, that tells an interesting story by a reader who says that when she was 4, she, her mother and her 1-year-old sister where going cross Continue Reading →
Posted in Humanity, Practice, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
Eclipse, Tomcat and MySQL for Java Web Development
I am currently working on a web development project for school. Eclipse is pretty much a given. Tomcat is required by the guidelines and I decided to go with the MySQL as my database server. I took the instructions from this page. But here is my “Pro-Version” synopsis for savvy people who just want to get going. My system is a Windows 7 64-bit but this should be valid just about anywhere because these are platform independent bundles. Install the latest JDK if you haven’t already. (I am working of 7u5) Install Tomcat. You can lay it down anywhere, it’s just an unpack. (I use 7) Install Eclipse. It’s also an unpack. Unless you’re not doing Java at all (and here you are) there is no reason not to go for the JavaEE version which contains just about everything. (I use the Juno version) Make sure Eclipse knows where you’ve put your jdk. (If it’s not automatic, I’m sure you can figure it out by yourself) Install MySQL Community Edition (I have 5.5.27). Check in as new user and then select to skip the process. The installation itself is pretty straight forward. You’ll most likely want the developer install. And don’t forget to grab the connector/j library (Mine is 5.1.21) as well. Put connector/j library in a place you can find it. Like in the Java main directory or with your project. Go into your MySQL command prompt and create a new database (“create database something;”). Go back to Eclipse and open Continue Reading →
Posted in High-Tech, School by Eran with comments disabled.
The Mass Effect Finale
[SPOILER WARNING!] Every thing in this post is under a heavy spoiler warning. I am discussing Mass Effect in its entirety from start to finish but mostly how the trilogy ends. If you ever want to play it with out bias and haven’t yet, close this tab right now. However, if you haven’t played it yet, or just not the third one, there is a suggestion for you at the final paragraph. You should check it out. There was some hubbub on the internet regarding the ending of Mass Effect 3. I haven’t played the game with out the Extended Cut and from this I understand that there were some problems with it. But most of them have been solved to some extent. For me, looking at the endings according to the Extended Cut, I think they were good. There were some problems with them, I didn’t expect the “Fuck You” option to be the “You Lose” option and the added slideshow at the end really seems tacked on but I still thought the ending was epic. Honestly, throughout the second half of the game I was hoping it would get a Star-Control-2-Class ending. And I’m glad to say it did. Really. Beautiful. There were some hitches I can snag on but overall, I liked it. But after you step away with a sweet and sour taste in your mouth, you go online to see discussions of the endings and the entire trilogy and you come across the Indoctrination Theory (The Full Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Reviews, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 2 comments.
Today’s Lucky Ten Thousand
See first post for explanation. And this is what we have on the table today: The Screen Saver Grace Period – is a setting in the Windows operating system that determines how many seconds you have, after the screen saver starts working, that you can stop it without incurring the penalty of having to log back in again (If you’ve set it to require password). This is located in the Registry at location: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. It’s a string value called ScreenSaverGracePeriod and it interprets the value in seconds. If it’s not there (like in later versions), just add it exactly as I said. The Heat Sink – is the little piece of metal you find on components that tend to run very hot, like your central or graphics processors in your computer or console. It’s composed of a flat slab, to connect to the heat source, and fins extruding from it, to disperse the heat in a way that will allow maximum contact with the air around it. You blow on this with a fan and you get your basic heat evacuation mechanism. Here are some pictures of it. Also, some folks today are working on a rotating heat sink that dispenses with the use of a fan. Pedestrian Stoplights – are a curious thing. They are designed, at least in Israel, in such a fashion that when they turn red, it takes 3 seconds per lane of the crosswalk before the cars’ stoplight turns green. This is to allow the person who Continue Reading →
Posted in Life Lessons, Memes and Stuff by Eran with comments disabled.
Is Autism a Bad Thing?
Judging from this, autism mostly means a critical failure of communication inherent in the person’s mind. And from another video I saw, it appears there are some other mental symptoms that accompany it but it’s mostly the fact that autistic children perceive the world through a completely different matrix than other people do. And maybe it’s because of that literal, direct-only perception that some can be incredible savants. What Michael Barton says in the article is that with his part of the spectrum comes, with some failure to grasp idioms and analogies, a heightened ability to focus, stick to things and better analytical skills. Which, to some definition, makes him a nerdy super-geek! And my first thought is that sounds cool. Wouldn’t you wish you had the ability to just focus on one task for hours with out a break, to grasp and hold complicated design and mechanics in your head? I think that’s awesome. My second thought is that maybe some of the great minds of history, all the way from Einstein down to Newton and Aristotle, were technically undiagnosed autistic people. That would explain a few things, like Tesla and others tendency to isolate themselves from society to focus on their projects, and then producing leaps and bounds of technological breakthrough. My third thought is that, although it might be cool to have unlimited technical potential, it seems you have to sacrifice some part of the human connection and some artistic understanding. I’m a high tech person, basically Continue Reading →
Posted in Humanity, Less Interesting News, Philosophy, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.
Mass Effect: Books, Gender, Emotions
I’m not gonna write a review for Mass Effect 3. I don’t think I need to. If you care about it in any way, you probably heard all you needed to hear if not already played it yourself. And if not, what will it matter anyway? I do, however, wish to impart some thoughts upon it and the Mass Effect universe in general. So today I will stress three points: The Books, Shepard’s Gender and Why it Matters, and How This Game Triggered Some Serious Emotions. The last part contains what are probably heavy spoilers for the third game and at least minor ones for the second so you can skip it if you don’t want that segment ruined. I am talking about after the second Priority: Citadel. The Mass Effect Books. There are currently three Mass Effect books (The fourth has been pulled for serious inconsistencies): Revelation, Ascension and Retribution. It’s always a problem when you adopt a property from one medium to another. You rarely get it perfectly right. The books do get the benefit of having one of the writers of the game (not the lead one, though) writing them so that is something. And I listened to them – and read the comics – because the universe was so awesome I didn’t want to miss anything. Same reason why I go for every mission I can find in the game. And I was hoping for some extra info on the universe that maybe explains some things that Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Reviews by Eran with comments disabled.