Mikael Langer

Emacs compilation complete system tray notification

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:37:58 GMT

Here's a sweet little emacs hack for showing a notification bubble when compilation is finished. Very handy for projects with very long compile times.
Screenshot:

Stick the following in your .emacs:

;;Compilation notifcations
(defun notify-compilation-result(buffer msg)
  (if (string-match "^finished" msg)
      (progn
	(status-post-message status-icon "Compilation Successful"))
    (status-post-message status-icon "Compilation Failed"))
  )

(add-to-list 'compilation-finish-functions
	     'notify-compilation-result)

(defun status-new ()
  (let ((result (start-process "status-icon"
			       (generate-new-buffer-name " *status-icon*")
			       "/usr/bin/zenity"
			       "--notification"
			       "--listen")))
    (process-send-string result "icon: /usr/share/icons/emacs22/emacs.xpm\n")
    (process-kill-without-query result nil)
    result))

(defun status-post-message (status-icon text)
  (process-send-string status-icon (concat "message:" text "\n")))

(setq status-icon (status-new))

Johan&Nyström Five Estates

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:31:00 GMT

Another roast from the local south of Stockholm coffee makers Johan&Nyström, one that I've seen a lot of cafés around town started using in the last year or so.
Unfortunately I find the beans have the same quite unpleasant burnt rubbery aroma that is present in their Fair Trade Organic blend as well.
The brew has a very nice almond aroma, with just a slight note of hay and maybe just a hint of that unpleasantness way in the background.
Sadly, the flavor is permeated by that rubbery, earthy, burnt and bitter taste that is apparent when smelling the beans.
Definitely not working well for me, at least not with my grinder and machine. I'm not even finding it all that tasty in a latte or cappuccino either.

Salted caperberries

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:19:00 GMT

Another cool trick I just saw on the Discovery Travel & Living channel:
putting caperberries in salt will remove the typical caperberry flavour and bring out hidden flavorings that can also be found in violas and rasbperries!
Sounds like treating the giant variety of caperberries like this could make a very cool cocktail garnish.

Vanilla flavored barbeque

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Just saw this cool cooking trick on the Discovery Travel & Living channel:
To add a distinct vanilla flavor when barbequeing, put bits of wood soaked in water on top of the embers. This will slowly release the vanillin present in most woods (the very same that adds vanilla tones to wine and spirits aged in roasted oak) instead of incinerating it by quickly burning the wood.
Probably works best for fruits or any kind of dessert dishes that can be prepared on the grill; in the show they did this with peaches.
Must be tried on occasion.

The Slug (Linksys NSLU2)

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:36:00 GMT

Been spending most of my spare time lately setting up a tiny little server.
It all started with me wanting to share my 320GB USB harddrive on the network so I could get back to streaming music over the wlan to my old XBOX running XBMC like i used to do before getting the new apartment. To do this I wanted a little a cheap NAS unit with USB ports and wireless or an ethernet port. After a bit of searching I found the Linksys NSLU2 that has two USB ports and an Ethernet port, and runs a simple web UI to set up shares. I thought it seemed to be great value for money at about €70, but little did I know just how much this little box could deliver...

While I was doing the initial setup I noticed that on the CD there was a bunch of open source license notes, which got me thinking "soo, this little beast runs linux, eh?". A quick look on the net immediately led to http://www.nslu2-linux.org where there actually are a couple of distros that can be run on the Slug.
I picked the SlugOS/BE distro, flashed the firmware (the flash tool was available as a package in Ubuntu! Couldn't be simpler) and then got to it.

A lot of package installation, a bit of compiling from source and a some configuration later, I now have a teeny weeny little server running with:

Web Server:
- Lighttpd
- PHP-fcgi
- Sqlite
- WebDAV (module recompiled with prop support)
Mail Server:
- UW IMAPd
- Sendmail (recompiled with SASL auth support)
- Roundcube Webmail
- Signed Certificate from StartSSL
SAMBA server
Bittorrent client with web GUI

Everything runs smoothly, except Roundcube is very slow and seems to use up 100% of the (very limited) CPU on page loads for some reason. What's probably the best part though, is that the Slug, two USB drives and a wireless router only eats 16W of power on idle!

Some stuff that I still would like to get running is:

Always on hack - out of the box, if the power goes out, the unit will stay off
Print server - it is possible to connect other stuff than harddrives with a USB hub
Try to use the Slug to somehow get our IP telephony box to work from behind a router/firewall. Not sure if it's even possible, or how to do it, but it would be great.

All in all, this tiny little machine, only 21x91x13 mm, that runs linux and only pulls about 14W idle is insanely cost-effective at about €70 here in Sweden. Hell, if the 266MHz processor and 32MB of RAM can't cope with the load anymore, it should be possible to just get another one and make a cluster!

Johan&Nyström Espresso Fair Trade Organic

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:06:00 GMT

Interesting to see a Fair Trade and Organic coffee from local microroastery Johan&Nyström.
Sadly, I find most "high flavor" products such as coffee and chocolate that are Fair Trade/Organic tend to be sub par really.
As we will find out, this coffee is not an exception to the rule.

The beans have a toasted sort of aroma, actually quite like burnt rubber, and not very pleasant.
Pulled shots look nice, and the aroma - without a doubt the highlight of this blend - is deep, chocolatey with tones of dried fruit.
The brew tastes a bit disappointing after the nice aroma, with a pretty "flat" bitterness and not much else.

Works best in lattes. The produced espresso isn't all that enjoyable.

Wine

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:44:00 GMT

I'm no wine expert by any means, but I try to write something up about wines I've tried, as I always tend to forget which were good and which were not-so-good.

Optical4Less

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:44:00 GMT

URL:	http://www.optical4less.com
Description:	Custom prescription glasses online. From Hong Kong. Around 10% of Swedish prices. Quality is great and shipping is free if you order two pairs. Just choose frames and enter your prescription, et voila! I've bought three pairs to date and I'm very pleased with quality and service.

Tailorstore

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:36:00 GMT

URL:	http://www.tailorstore.com
Description:	Good quality custom shirts! I've bought three shirts now, and the measurements are really starting to get perfect. Can't knock perfect fit shirts that come cheaper than regular non-custom shirts from bricks&mortar stores.

Web

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:36:00 GMT

3 July 2008 - Leonard Cohen @ Sofiero, Helsingborg

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:05:00 GMT

I'll say it right away: Wow, just wow! I never thought I'd actually get to see Leonard Cohen perform live, and now that it came true, I never expected him to put on such a good show - the man IS 74 years old after all. But he did deliver an excellent performance!

Let's take it from the beginning: The concert at Sofiero was the grand finale of our little one week mini vacation in Skåne. We decided to get there early and did manage to grab pretty good spots at the head of the queues that after just a little while stretched out to hundreds (if not thousand(s) at most :O) of metres behind us. After a nice little picnic in the gardens we got ourselves some great spots right in the front row.

Turns out Christian Kjellvander was the opening act, which I didn't know beforehand. He did a very good and humble set together with his wife out on the left corner on the stage. Very nice and very worthy!

After a minor delay the show got under way with a very vital Cohen jogging onto the stage after the musicians made their entrance. I pretty much expected the show to be quite slow and toned down but not so at all.
After opening with dance me to the end of love the man covered pretty much every well-known song in his catalog, except completely leaving out the darker material of Songs of Love and Hate.

Highlights of the show for me were Anthem and Halelujah - big big moments where nary an eye was dry, the smoky jazz treatment of Boogie Street with a really nice solid beat with not a trace of the unfortunate Casio keyboard sound that's on the album, and the absolutely flawless performance of Suzanne.

Managed to record two short clips and snap a couple of photos with my phone before the battery died.
First one is from the opening track Dance Me To the End of Love and the other is from Ain't No Cure for Love:

The show lasted for a full three hours(!), and all of the time there was this amazing feeling that this was a very special unique event (despite being just a stop on a major tour), all thanks to Leonard's sincere thankfullness and humility.

More photos here.

Cafés

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:54:00 GMT

Coffee

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:54:00 GMT

I love good coffee!
I will try to post up my tasting of different beans here, as well as bits about my "hardware".
(And maybe som latte art pics!)

Restaurants

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:51:00 GMT

Cooking

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:46:00 GMT

Cooking, and food in general, is a major interest of mine (not forgetting the eating part of course ).

Fish in Egg Sauce

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:46:00 GMT

I remember my mother used to cook something like this in the times before she got a wok and destroyed her cooking.

Ingredients, serves 4:

Butter. Lots.
1-2 tbsp flour
2 leeks
1/2 litre of milk, or however much feels right.
1kg white fish, (I used cheap alaska pollock this time)
3-4 boiled eggs
Parsley

That's about it.
Chop the leeks and fry them lightly in butter.
Sprinkle the flour in the pan and stir.
Pour in the milk, and let simmer until it thickens.
Put in the fish and let cook just until you can easily divide the fish with a spatula.
Garnish with halved boiled eggs and parsley.
Done!

In the distant past, I might have put some potatoes in, but I no longer care for such carb-bombs.
Nowadays, like this time, I might for example serve this with a little quinoa salad with sauteed fennel and bell peppers.

En Liten Smula

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:32:00 GMT

With very little room for doubt, Sweden's finest patisserie is En Liten Smula in Norrtälje northeast of Stockholm. The list of top mentions in "Sveriges Bästa Bord" listed on the front door is pretty impressive by itself, but then approaching the counter is just overwhelming. Everything looks absolutely amazing, and there are lots to choose from. Classic cookies, macarons, pastries, chocolates, breads, lovely little Italian meringue pies, the super awesome mousse cakes, you name it, it just goes on and on.

The place has expanded quite a bit since our first visit and is now starting to show some signs of wear especially on the second floor where some of the furniture is really looking battered, which is kind of sad, although they did make a great job of freshening up the entrance area.

In the past, the coffee has been a bit of a weak spot, which I guess is fine as it hasn't really been what they've been focusing on, but the last time we were there the latte was actually pretty good with even a bit of etching going on on top - bonus! One point to remember though is that the big size latte is HUGE, so don't order it unless you're ready for massive amounts of coffee flavored milk .

So to conclude, the place where the absolute best pastries and sweets in all of Sweden can be had has stepped up yet another little notch by adding better coffee to their repertoire.

24 July 2008 - Catchup!

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:38:00 GMT

I've been on vacation for two weeks and have been mad busy since then.
I'll be posting up some notes from the last month or so shortly, right after finishing my Espresso-Cointreau-Mojito Cigarillo combo on the balcony.

K&Co

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:27:00 GMT

This Helsingborg espresso bar has achieved top places in the Swedish Barista Cup and has been one of Sweden's best.
The Coffee perhaps isn't as good as it used to be, but it's they still manage to churn out some excellent espressos, cappas and lattes from their wonderful La Marzocco machine.
The offering of cakes and assorted sweets feels a bit dull, the cakes don't look all that delicious and the cornetti tends to be a bit too dry, but the fair trade chocolate is perfect.
Another thing that brings K&Co down a notch in my book is the oftentimes very bored and uninterested staff.
But really the negatives are quite small for this nicely designed and discreetely queer (check out the magazines on display ), that still has to be at least among the best coffee shops in southern Sweden.

Non Solo Bar

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:30:00 GMT

It has to be said right from the start: Non Solo comes close to the optimal café/bar for me. Great coffee - the sign says Passalacqua, although I believe they normally serve a Swedish blend that I don't remember the name of - and great food in the shape of a couple of pastas (the porcini pasta is lovely) and a risotto with salsiccia that looks absolutely delicious. But you can just as well drop by (it's located about halfway up Odengatan from Odenplan) for just a glass of wine and enjoy the atmosphere.

The prices are perfect too, only 10 sek for an espresso (the way it should be!) and 55 sek for a glass of wine. I just can't recommend this place enough!