ze blog. of mykey

Best Lost summary

2009-01-24T01:24:00.004+01:00

"Okay, you see we did crash, but it was on this crazy island. And then we waited for rescue, only there wasn’t a rescue. And then there was this smoke monster. And there were other people on the island, we called them the Others, and they started attacking us. And we found these hatches, and there was a button you had to push every 108 minutes, or... well, I was never really clear on that.

"But, the Others didn’t have anything to do with the hatches, that was the Dharma Initative. But they’re all dead, the Others killed them... and now they’re trying to kill us. And then we teamed up with the Others because worse people were coming on a freighter. Desmond’s girlfriend’s father sent them to kill us. So we stole their helicopter and we flew it to their freighter, but it blew up, and we couldn’t go back to the island because it disappeared. So then we crashed into the ocean and we floated there for awhile before a boat came and picked us up. By then, there was six of us. That part was true. But the rest of the people who were on the plane... they’re still on that island..."

Thank you, Hurley, I believe we’re all caught up now. Best Lost summary ever.

And that's what I thought!

More at HoboTrashcan...

3D view of St. Julian's coast

2009-01-21T00:17:00.011+01:00

This is a photosynth I uploaded today from a set of pictures I took in summer. It's basically a 3D scene built automatically from plain photos. It's not the best 3D experience you can have, and doesn't compare to some 3D first person game, but it's a start, and I expect to see Photosynth improve on that road.

You will need to install a plugin from Microsoft, available here. Or you can click on any of the two images below to load Photosynth, install and view, or if you have already installed Photosynth you can see a forth image underneath and navigate in it.

You can move around with the mouse, and I will list here some keyboard shortcuts (more here) to help enhance the experience:

F	Toggle fullscreen
A, D, S, W	Shift left, right, in, out
E, C	Shift up, down
L, '	Rotate left, right
Ctrl	Hide photos (point mode)
P	Switch photo/point modes

Below, the first image is a preview of the Photosynth navigation, the second is a view in point mode, and the third is a map of St Julian's/Sliema for comparison. The whole photo set covers the visible parts of Triq Gorg Borg Olivier and Triq it-Torri; but the point mode map shows the left part of the map where Triq it-Torri starts, just after Triq Gorg Borg Olivier. It includes Balluta Church, the quay, Ġnien l-Indipendenza, and the apartments in Triq it-Torri. Some parts of the onlooking land with Portomaso Tower are also visible.

Definition of phase

2009-01-19T06:00:00.007+01:00

1. n. The offset of one's waking-sleeping schedule with respect to the standard 24-hour cycle; a useful concept among people who often work at night and/or according to no fixed schedule. It is not uncommon to change one's phase by as much as 6 hours per day on a regular basis. "What's your phase?" "I've been getting in about 8 P.M. lately, but I'm going to wrap around to the day schedule by Friday." A person who is roughly 12 hours out of phase is sometimes said to be in night mode. (The term day mode is also (but less frequently) used, meaning you're working 9 to 5 (or, more likely, 10 to 6).) The act of altering one's cycle is called changing phase; phase shifting has also been recently reported from Caltech.

2. change phase the hard way: To stay awake for a very long time in order to get into a different phase.

3. change phase the easy way: To stay asleep, etc. However, some claim that either staying awake longer or sleeping longer is easy, and that it is shortening your day or night that is really hard (wrap around). The jet lag that afflicts travelers who cross many time-zone boundaries may be attributed to two distinct causes: the strain of travel per se, and the strain of changing phase. [People] who suddenly find that they must change phase drastically in a short period of time, particularly the hard way, experience something very like jet lag without traveling.

{via Eric S. Raymond}

Spam of the day: Lost Dog

2009-01-02T02:17:00.003+01:00

I must say, a very good description of the Dog to help us find it.

Stray family dog. How do you identify a family dog? And any dog you see in the streets is probably a stray dog. Possibly a very large search space, humanly impossible, unless you have an amazingly long life, by which time the dog is already dead.

From: ***
Subject: FW: My friend has Lost her Dog plsssss email to your friends
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008

Please forward to all your contacts.
This is a family dog.
She was a stray and was adopted.
She is not worth anything to anybody else.
For us she is a member of the family.
Please help us find her.
Thank you so much.

A boring lecture

2008-12-16T16:03:00.001+01:00

Before me I see students taking notes on paper, or the fortunate ones on their own personal electronic device. The lecturer is a boring one, and has been discussing information quality for at least these three years I have been registered as a student in this university. The transparent slides have his typical typeface, which I have already seen in my fresher year. Everything is important in IT, and companies and businesses are adopting many practices in IT. The slides have repeating information potentially reducible to just a few words.

Bus Tour 2008

2008-12-02T01:15:00.004+01:00

A day of fascination and awesomeness... and coolness

Memory list for 12hr Malta

2008-11-04T02:14:00.002+01:00

Qegħdin tard. mux qed nara. tuffieħa. booklet. ilma. le Jack m'hemmx bżonn. day ticket. tridu tixtru gazzetta! bonuses. crossword. rajt ma rajtx. proof of life. Pakistan. Google. laptop. Re Karlu. aċċjola. 122 years. Venus Venus Venus. Venere. lanżiet. Torok. Toni Bajada. Il-Mensija. Il-Madonna. trittiku. tlifniha. le 65. sigarett. 42. Valletta. monti. libsa tat-tieġ. 4 euro flokk. biċċtej drapp. bargain. European Youth Week. ħafna stands. Pjazza Ħelsien. ŻAK food stand. salib ta' Malta. Caravaggio. San Ġwann. inbid tal-Marsovin. wine stands. tfajla sabiħa. 47. L-Imġarr. kastell. pjazza. ħafna nies. Kastell Żamitellu. Stef. libsa tat-tieġ. photoshoot. xemx. pjazza. 47. xemx. 47. Twistees. xemx. dell. sigarett. 47. roundabout. mixja twila. xemx. sħana. break. fejnhu Daniel? l-istorja ta' Sant'Agata. video. xemx.

It-Telgħa tas-Saqqajja. Ir-Rabat. Konti Ruġġieru. interview. mantell. bandiera. il-Knisja ta' Sant'Agata. il-qadima. il-ġdida. il-qadima. il-kripta. l-istatwa fuq iċ-ċint. play. qed jidlam. rehersals. video. play. Torok. soru rieqda. venda. sigarett. għadha ma ġietx. mhux din. 81. kulħadd rieqed. nieqfu l-Imsida. le għall-Belt. Birkirkara. pizza. Ċirklu. nies. ritratti. cameras. m'għandix card reader. gruppi. quddies. dawgħa minn wara. projector. ritratti. kulħadd happy. winners and losers. video. proset u grazzi. aħna ħa nibqgħu daqsxejn hawn. ma nistax insib il-karozza. McDonald's. dħalt nistrieħ. kemm jingħalaq tajjeb il-bieb! birra. bank. aw ġejjin. birra. bank. dawl. umdita.

Crash. Boom. Ugh.

2008-10-29T22:48:00.001+01:00

I ride.
I paddle.
I breath.
I take another step.
I turn.
I move.
I ride.
Crash.
Boom.
Bang.
I fly.

Journey through the mountains

2008-09-22T09:26:00.015+02:00

The trip was great, only tiring, given I brought no bike seat and I stopped for a smoke on the way. Now here I lie waiting in a park in Cusco for the others to arrive for the opening part. The sun is shining between the rainy clouds into my eyes. I feel the heat on my naked chest, and hear the church bells ringing and a couple of children playing ball in the streets. When the sun goes in I feel the cold wind rushing through the trees, and a vibrating flag pole rope, while cars pass by at random intervals. I long for the Daniels in my backpack and for the slow chopping of the sea, and I cry. I long for the phone in my backpack to hear one voice and a laugh.

Another journey lies ahead of me to Mollendo to meet the other guys, where then I can hear the choppy sea and sleep under the moonlight. Night time stories will be said, arguments will be born and die. Thoughts will fly south to the big ocean, and I will miss every part of it. A sad life this is, a hierarchy in dimensions, with no point except to be there. Time is wasted on trying to decode it, and yet, here I lie on the bench on my sleeping bag, shining sun on my naked chest, and I sleep.

GoRoC v3 Photos

2008-09-15T22:42:00.003+02:00

Stuff collected during August bike trip

2008-08-30T01:31:00.006+02:00

As promised, this is a short description of stuff collected on the bike trip in August:

Cowboy hat from Accessorize - We found this on the road near Kennedy Grove, the metal wire was badly shaped, it must have been hit by a car. I still use it.
Lighter with casino cover - Mentioning that one day I had found a lighter, there it was, another lighter, sadly no gas.
Broken calculator - After the lighter, we thought of mentioning a mobile phone to find one, but all we found was this lonely broken calculator on entering St. Paul's Bay.
Designer business card - Fixing the calculator parts on a pit stop, we found this business card thrown to the floor with dirt all over. Looks like a downloaded template for a business card and the website is 8 years old.
Open padlock without key - We found this up the road from Għadira Bay, along the forestation project. We could have had some fun with this, lock something and leave it there, and no one has the key.
Short nylon rope - In Ramla Bay we found this rope, short but handy. We used it to lock the hat with the bag when we left the bikes on the beach to go to the wine festival up in Nadur.
Wine bar business card - This is some wine bar in Nadur, a nice girl gave it to us on entering the festival.
Empty mini-cigar box - Back to Malta, this was found on the road from Ċirkewwa, sadly empty, but pretty junky.
Yellow windscreen duster - Before entering Għadira Bay, we found this duster on some tree, actually useful to wipe the hands after some bike repairs.
Medium-sized no entry sign - We found this lying around in a road in Naxxar. I will hang it on my bedroom wall.

August Bike Trip

2008-08-25T10:59:00.018+02:00

Date: 23-24 August 2008

Start: San Ġwann
Finish: Ramla Bay, Gozo

Photo Album:

Route:

Day #1: San Ġwann, Swieqi, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, San Pawl il-Baħar, Mellieħa Bay, Ċirkewwa, Mġarr, Xagħra, Ramla Bay. (36 km)
Day #2: Ramla Bay, Nadur, Mġarr, Ċirkewwa, Mellieħa Bay, Mellieħa, San Pawl il-Baħar, Naxxar, San Ġwann. (27 km)

Next post will discuss the stuff collected during the road trip :)

Hand-drawn display pictures Set 1

2008-08-15T19:34:00.004+02:00

Hiding User Accounts from Windows XP Welcome Screen

2008-08-15T18:51:00.004+02:00

To hide a user account from the Windows XP welcome screen, just add a DWORD value of 0x00000000 with the username as its value name, to the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList\.

The welcome screen can be enabled or disabled from the User Accounts Control Panel.

{via http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread75078.html#9}

Emendi fl-Ortografija tal-Malti

2008-08-01T14:31:00.010+02:00

Jien għoġbuni xi kliem minn dawn il-ġodda:

bilġiri; Anke bil-ġiri skont Appendiċi B
bilkemm
daqslikieku
dawramejt
flgħaxija; "Kull flgħaxija ommi tħobb tmur timxi mixja."
ġaladarba
għaldaqstant
lakemm
ilbiraħtlula; Din naħseb kellha tiġi ilbiraħtlura, bħal ilbieraħ u tnejn lura, madankollu nista' nkun żbaljat.
xi llaħwa; Din ukoll ma naqbilx magħha, iktar iddoqqli xill-aħwa, għax ngħidu xiż-żobb mhux xi żżobb, jew xill-alla mhux xi llalla.¹
manġapassiġġa; "Hekk sewwa! Il-mara taħdem u int manġapassiġġa."
minnufih
perkażu
pezzakustjoni
qabelxejn
sadanittant
santapaċenzja; "Is-santapaċenzja, kif qridtni!"
sewwasew; Imma sewwa sewwa [f'nofs ta' baħar] skont 3.1.1, bħal qajl qajl [immorru l-Isle].
sogħobbih (jisgħobbih, eċċ.); "Jisgħobbija li ma nistax niġi miegħek illum."
barra minn dan
bħal meta
bħal xejn
bil-kif
sa fl-aħħar
kull xejn
liema bħalu
linji gwida
minn bejn; Bħal minn bejn għajnejk.
minn xi daqqiet; Anke xi minn daqqiet.
minn tagħna
iżża ħajr

^{1. L-eżempji qed nużahom purament għall-argument.}

Referenzi:

Artiklu tat-Times: New rules on Maltese words aimed at removing variants [offline]
Ir-rapport Deċiżjonijiet 1 tal-Kunsill tal-Malti.
Gazzetta tal-Gvern tal-25 ta' Lulju 2008, ara avviż Nru. 642, paġna 8206.

Freedom to Love

2008-07-26T13:14:00.006+02:00

1:15 hemm tazza tal-plastik ħamra
u 3:37 hemm nannakola tivvjaġġa

Towards more efficient conversations

2008-07-14T08:51:00.007+02:00

May I ask you to compare the following two equivalent conversations:

Conversation 1:

(08:00) ċikka:
hello
(08:02) myke:
hey
(08:04) ċikka:
kif int?
(08:05) myke:
ok
(08:06) myke:
int?
(08:07) ċikka:
nobad
(08:09) cikka:
isma dak cempiltlu?
(08:10) myke:
le ta, imma kont hancempillu daqt
umbad inkelmek fuqha l-bicca xol
(08:11) ċikka:
e ok
(08:20) ċikka:
bye mela
ħammur niekol
(08:22) myke:
cawcaw
(08:24) ċikka:
bye
-- end of conversation --

Conversation 2:

(08:00) ċikka:
aw myk
isma dak cempiltlu
(08:01) myke:
le ta, imma kont hancempillu daqt
umbad inkellmek fuqha l-bicca xol
(08:01) ċikka:
ok thanks
-- end of conversation --

I'm sure you have experience in the two types of conversation. The first one follows protocol which I personally find very stupid. The second is straight to the point and focuses on the function of the conversation. It appears that this functional conversation takes only 2 minutes while the first conversation takes a whopping 25 minutes.

A far more irritating conversation is the following:

Conversation 3:

(09:00) ċikku:
aw man
(09:15) ċikku:
*nudge*
(10:00) ċikku:
man hemm qiegħed?
(12:00) ċikku:
man
(19:00) myke:
aw
(19:01) ċikku:
thanks man irranġajt
(19:07) ċikku:
ax kelli problema
(22:00) ċikku:
gn man
(22:20) myke:
gn
(22:30) ċikku:
cawcaw
-- end of conversation --

This is just a notice that I am a "Conversation 2"-type kind of guy and I find other types of conversations pissing off.

Comino June 2008 Photos

2008-06-22T12:47:00.004+02:00

Dixx and Poke Olas

2008-06-19T00:50:00.000+02:00

Apfelsaft

2008-05-30T20:46:00.016+02:00

illum għaddejt għand il-Lidl biex nixtri apfelsaft
u kien hemm 6 counters
mimlijin sa ruħ ommhom
u kien hemm wieħed counter
kellu customer wieħed
qed tgħaddilu l-affarijiet
u mort hemm
IMP: qed tgħaddilu l-affarijit
waqt li ed tgħaddi l-affarijit, qantli, da magħluq
għedtilha, da biss għandi, apfelsaft. urejtulha
qantli le magħluq
qbadt l-apfelsaft
u waddabtu max-xkafef
u ħriġt 'il barra
jien u ħiereġ kien ħa jingħalaq il-bieb ġo fija
u sfurzajtu biex niftħu għax għalaqni
issa m'għandix apfelsaft
:(

Searching in flavours

2008-05-25T01:24:00.003+02:00

First of all, thanks for your input Karmichael and Franco. I meant to post back as a comment but it was becoming too long, so here goes.

I like the Midomi idea but I think they are somewhat deviated. They think that Web 2.0 is so cool and that user-generated content rules the world. I like clean Google-style search that is simple. I don't care about my "friends" on their website if I'm just randomly looking for a song for one time. User generated recordings and fan clubs might be their way of getting around copyright laws and building a quicker data set.

Plus they don't fit the audio requirement quite right. By audio input I don't mean just music, and do I really have to hum in my microphone? Isn't it possible to input an mp3 or post a YouTube link for the video? I expect to get results including a better version of my posted mp3 or hummed song, or are similar to my sound, e.g. a similar song. (Btw, to the guys at Midomi, I think you've done a wonderfully great job.)

Searching by a face image requires mapping the faces onto identical faces, which might be an issue for some people, but also onto similar faces. Usually I can search by their name and get a picture from simple Google Images or social networking sites like Facebook or hi5. I'm not sure if this bothers the general people.

For searching by image, I wasn't referring just to face searching. What about giving an image of a place and getting back its location. Say the Eiffel tower, or Castille Palace in Valletta. I'm walking in Valletta and I see the fountain at the bus terminus. I take a picture/video with my phone, search, and get back the location, along with related information such as bus routes and ticket prices. A picture of my front door probably won't give me my home address unless I have it written somewhere on the web with an image to match it, in which case, it means I'm not bothered with searching for a picture of my front door.

What if I have a map of some city and I want the city's location in the world? If that's the case, probably I know the name of the city and I could have searched by its name. But, what if somebody gave me a map with some couple of streets and I don't know how to get there. Or, what if I remember the streets I used to walk in, 10 years back in some countryside path? I could draw the map with some shapes and the Machine will give me back locations and images related to that map.

What is it with strings as the first thing to input for everything we think of on the web? Do we think in words? Or do we think in images and video? Probably text is the most common thing for communication because back in the days of Mesopotamia (4000 BC) they invented writing. Now instead of writing we're calling it web. What if they had invented techniques for recording sounds instead of writing? I strongly think that searching would have been by audio input. (And by audio input I do not mean converting the audio back to words, because I would have done the same thing by typing.) Same thing goes for picture and video input.

Google is a function of (keywords) -> (text) | (image) | (audio) | (video). I just want all flavours and combinations.

Searching

2008-05-24T19:17:00.009+02:00

We say Google is the god of Search. But it only offers searching by keywords. I want a search where image, audio, or video is my input.

Back at our local Lidl store, we do exhaustive searches when we do not know where some product is, or depth-first search when we know where it is. If I don't know where the product is, I ask an assistant (Lidl agent or intelligent agent). I show the picture and I get back a location, so I can do a depth-first traversal.

If the Eurovision song for Switzerland is familiar, a search in my memory might not give me a result. I expect to search using some audio pattern in the music to get back keywords on similar patterns.

My point is: if current search engines expect keyword input, and give outputs of type text, image, audio, video; why not the reverse?

The mind is just the software

2008-05-14T18:00:00.006+02:00

"What appears to be physical reality is all maya, illusion. Everything is really mind. Bodies are sensations of minds."
"I'm the only one there is, and you guys are all figments of my imagination."
"I've often wondered if what I see as red is what you see as purple but refer to as red."
"What makes you think that I have a mind, or think that you have one?"
"Look at the fishes shooting to and fro! How joyful they are!" "You are not a fish. How can you know that the fishes are joyful?" "You are not I. How can you know I do not know about the joy of the fishes?"
"Minds are simply what brains do. If mind is implementable on animals, it is implementable on machines."

[via Artificial Minds by Stan Franklin]

World Record Trampoline Jump

2008-05-10T02:56:00.003+02:00

Lock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toiLock mei ta da san jey o toi
Lock mei ta da san jey o toi

I love Juice

2008-05-07T20:11:00.001+02:00

updated