It's been more than a week since arriving back home.
I've been en-climatized again and I am now back to basics, inventing and misspelling words.
The future looks kind of mixed.
The bad: More than half of my friends are either going to the army or going abroad (to avoid the army?) for grad-studies. My timing of return is quite frankly ill-chosen.
The good: The open swimming pool near my home is nearing its completion. It's a marvelous Olympic-sized pool. I'll make it a habit to go there. Nick, next time we race I'll tear you into pieces. But more importantly: I spoke with a volleyball coach and it seems he will accept me in his team. It's a team that trains regularly and it's kind of 5-days-training-a-week-serious, so my volleyball skills might just go up after all. G-Unit and Trombones this is for you as much as it is for me.
We start practicing on Monday. It will be more fitness practice for the first couple of days and then we'll go in an actual court sometime in the next weekend.
To Volleyball!
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Memories
Just arrived home in Greece, after a trip that lasted approximately 48 hours.
Long trips in the real world lend themselves to trips down memory lane.
Most of my trips were on recent events. But some headed to the past. Wayback where memory lane begins to fade. But memories are like antiques, gaining value over time. And here is one from a while back:
My family and I had gone on a hike on a mountain close to my village. The name of the mountain loosely translates to "The nun's mountain". It was a sunny day and very warm. I remember waking through golden fields. I was getting thirstier by the moment. But I feared not. I knew we would sooner or later come across the house where the Nun lives. She would give us water and let us continue our journey.
But time passed, I got thirstier and thirstier.
We never ended up finding a Nun.
Sure, being a victim of naivete at a young age is natural. But does it really end there? It's said that 'what we want to be true, we generally believe to be true'. And some things never truly change. They disguise themselves but they don't change.
Long trips in the real world lend themselves to trips down memory lane.
Most of my trips were on recent events. But some headed to the past. Wayback where memory lane begins to fade. But memories are like antiques, gaining value over time. And here is one from a while back:
My family and I had gone on a hike on a mountain close to my village. The name of the mountain loosely translates to "The nun's mountain". It was a sunny day and very warm. I remember waking through golden fields. I was getting thirstier by the moment. But I feared not. I knew we would sooner or later come across the house where the Nun lives. She would give us water and let us continue our journey.
But time passed, I got thirstier and thirstier.
We never ended up finding a Nun.
Sure, being a victim of naivete at a young age is natural. But does it really end there? It's said that 'what we want to be true, we generally believe to be true'. And some things never truly change. They disguise themselves but they don't change.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
To kill a mockingbird
The Trombones have successfully returned from Vancouver after a fun volleyball tournament.
But there's always more in a name, than the name itself.
Namely the names that were never chosen.
On their quest to find a proper name, the trombones of course consulted The List.
If the link doesn't work, fear not... I understand the Slashdot effect my blog can have... Instead, settle for less.
'To kill a blocking nerd' is a good one.
A name so catchy that made me go ahead and buy the original that inspired it.
To kill a mockingbird is quite nice so far.
I've only read the first chapter but it reminds me of childhood: Haunted houses, sneaking into yards... Being harmless yet annoying. All because of the thrill the possibility of getting caught gives.
Let's see where it goes from here.
But there's always more in a name, than the name itself.
Namely the names that were never chosen.
On their quest to find a proper name, the trombones of course consulted The List.
If the link doesn't work, fear not... I understand the Slashdot effect my blog can have... Instead, settle for less.
'To kill a blocking nerd' is a good one.
A name so catchy that made me go ahead and buy the original that inspired it.
To kill a mockingbird is quite nice so far.
I've only read the first chapter but it reminds me of childhood: Haunted houses, sneaking into yards... Being harmless yet annoying. All because of the thrill the possibility of getting caught gives.
Let's see where it goes from here.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
I love you Gimp!
OpenSource, free, awesome: The Gimp
Helped me manipulate a logo for a volleyball uniform.
Helped me manipulate a logo for a volleyball uniform.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Introspection
I'm terribly bad at explaining my feelings, but very good at feeling them.
Who would have thought a 'Red Blooded Woman' could have such a profound effect?
Exagerating, of course... but still.
Who would have thought a 'Red Blooded Woman' could have such a profound effect?
Exagerating, of course... but still.
Friday, June 16, 2006
A parody
Inspired by recent events
- (Balmer) Tell me it's not google.
- (Gates) It's google.org, the filanthropic arm of google.
It's raining chairs, alleluja...
- (Balmer) Tell me it's not google.
- (Gates) It's google.org, the filanthropic arm of google.
It's raining chairs, alleluja...
The Federaul Bureau of Sin...
...well, i don't know if such a bureau exists, but there is bureau that might as well claim the nick name.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
no, i'm not joking...
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
no, i'm not joking...
Me too? You too! you arrogant fool....
This is a story of a trap I've fallen into countless times.
Meet someone, introduce yourself....
- (Someone) Nice to meet you!
- (Goose) Me too!
- (Someone) Thinks: How arrogant.
Well, actually someone shouldn't be thinking that.
I will argue that saying 'Me too' makes much more sense than saying 'You too'.
And instead, saying 'You too' is the actuall arrogant thing to say.
Gramatical analysis could argue that the verbless 'Nice to meet you' really means 'It was nice to meet you'.
Since someone is actually saying it, niceness is clearly subjective w.r.t someone, so really we should say: 'It was nice for me to meet you'.
And then it makes complete sense to reply 'It was nice for me to meet you too'.
Now you need to cut this phrase short.
Since you need to maintain the subjectivity, you have to say 'Me too' and not 'You too'.
Cause saying 'You too' simply means that 'yeah, not only are you pleased, but, you too are pleased'. Nonsense... Arrogant, make your choice.
And now, for the utter twist, i'll pull a 'sixth sense' or a 'the others' :
Me and You are really duals of each other. Think Yes and No, True and False, 1 and 0...
The title of the post is invariant w.r.t who (Goose vs Someone) says it...
- (Goose) Nice to meet you!
- (Someone) You too!
- (Goose) Thinks: How arrogant!
Interpretation of the sentence is in the eye of the beholder!
Meet someone, introduce yourself....
- (Someone) Nice to meet you!
- (Goose) Me too!
- (Someone) Thinks: How arrogant.
Well, actually someone shouldn't be thinking that.
I will argue that saying 'Me too' makes much more sense than saying 'You too'.
And instead, saying 'You too' is the actuall arrogant thing to say.
Gramatical analysis could argue that the verbless 'Nice to meet you' really means 'It was nice to meet you'.
Since someone is actually saying it, niceness is clearly subjective w.r.t someone, so really we should say: 'It was nice for me to meet you'.
And then it makes complete sense to reply 'It was nice for me to meet you too'.
Now you need to cut this phrase short.
Since you need to maintain the subjectivity, you have to say 'Me too' and not 'You too'.
Cause saying 'You too' simply means that 'yeah, not only are you pleased, but, you too are pleased'. Nonsense... Arrogant, make your choice.
And now, for the utter twist, i'll pull a 'sixth sense' or a 'the others' :
Me and You are really duals of each other. Think Yes and No, True and False, 1 and 0...
The title of the post is invariant w.r.t who (Goose vs Someone) says it...
- (Goose) Nice to meet you!
- (Someone) You too!
- (Goose) Thinks: How arrogant!
Interpretation of the sentence is in the eye of the beholder!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Yes, school was awesome!
Following the nostalgic poems of Group Thoery came an incident at work that just reinforced the awesome memories from school.
School in general and University in particular.
A coworker posted a question on a newsgroup today, asking what is the formula for the sum up to the Kth element of the harmonic series:
In any event, this just brought back awesome memories, and it had to be put online to remain eternal, digital, free (let's hope, XX government...).
School in general and University in particular.
A coworker posted a question on a newsgroup today, asking what is the formula for the sum up to the Kth element of the harmonic series:
-
- Why? I don't know.
- Anyway, I pointed out, specifically:
In any event, this just brought back awesome memories, and it had to be put online to remain eternal, digital, free (let's hope, XX government...).
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Friday, May 05, 2006
Groups
Begin Excerpts of Am. Math. Monthly, Nov. 1973
...
The floodgates were opened! New groups were the rage!
(And twelve or more sprouted, to greet the new age.)
By Janko and Conway and Fisher and Held
MaLaughlin, Suzuki, and Higman, and Sims
No doubt you noted the last lines don't rhyme.
Well, that is, quite simply, a sign of the time.
There's chaos, not order, among simple groups;
And maybe we'd better go back to the loops.
Finding all groups that are simple is not a simple task!
...
Some details were dramatic, like the Monster of Griess.
A sporadic group that'll make you look twice.
In fact it's so big that it's given wide berth.
Its order is greater than the atoms of Earth.
When the battles were over, the War came to an end.
Commander-in-Chief Gorenstein, an anouncement did send.
We've found all finite simple groups, we sure earned our wages.
The proof that it's true is some 10,000 pages.
Finding all groups that are simple is finished at last!
End Excerpts
Ah, good old group theory, me misses you....
waterloo, me misses you...
home, me misses you...
cskids, me misses you...
renison gang, me misses you...
montreal v-team, me misses you...
...
The floodgates were opened! New groups were the rage!
(And twelve or more sprouted, to greet the new age.)
By Janko and Conway and Fisher and Held
MaLaughlin, Suzuki, and Higman, and Sims
No doubt you noted the last lines don't rhyme.
Well, that is, quite simply, a sign of the time.
There's chaos, not order, among simple groups;
And maybe we'd better go back to the loops.
Finding all groups that are simple is not a simple task!
...
Some details were dramatic, like the Monster of Griess.
A sporadic group that'll make you look twice.
In fact it's so big that it's given wide berth.
Its order is greater than the atoms of Earth.
When the battles were over, the War came to an end.
Commander-in-Chief Gorenstein, an anouncement did send.
We've found all finite simple groups, we sure earned our wages.
The proof that it's true is some 10,000 pages.
Finding all groups that are simple is finished at last!
End Excerpts
Ah, good old group theory, me misses you....
waterloo, me misses you...
home, me misses you...
cskids, me misses you...
renison gang, me misses you...
montreal v-team, me misses you...
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Confession
I have a confession to make.
A confession I have been avoiding for a while now, because of the implications it could have:
Would people think less of me?
Would they judge me?
Then again, would they even care? They really shouldn't...
Based on the last premise, I realized it was time to make the confession:
I love Paris Hilton.
A confession I have been avoiding for a while now, because of the implications it could have:
Would people think less of me?
Would they judge me?
Then again, would they even care? They really shouldn't...
Based on the last premise, I realized it was time to make the confession:
I love Paris Hilton.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Saturday, March 25, 2006
U for Understands
I definitely recommend V for Vendetta.
It's probably one of the best movies I've seen in the past few months.
Controversial, contemporary, smart twists.
In summary: V+
It's probably one of the best movies I've seen in the past few months.
Controversial, contemporary, smart twists.
In summary: V+
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Microsoft Access to PostgreSQL
You 've written an application utilizing Microsoft Access.
Your database is growing larger and is becoming slower.
You don't like Access's behavior on a multi-user environment.
You want to keep your existing Access application as a front-end (all your business rules are there after all).
You want a solution that is scalable, reliable, Open Source.
Fear not!
Here is the solution.
exportSQL3 already exists out there. I just made some enhancements to better support PostgreSQL, especially when its tables will be used by Access.
What exportSQL3.2-dev will do for you:
- DataType Conversion (Including OLE objects)
- Primary Keys, Unique Keys and Indexes.
- Default Values and Null constraints
- AutoIncrement fields
- Something I might be forgetting (so read the comments in exportSQL3.2)
What exportSQL3.2-dev does not (yet?) support.
-Foreign Keys (aka Relationships)
Use the latest PostgreSQL db server and ODBC driver and you should not face any problems with non-English characters, as long as your PostgreSQL database encoding is in UTF-8. (The ODBC driver will handle the conversions properly).
Also, when running the INSERT SQL queries (the ones in the "add" generated file), you need to make sure that your client where you run the queries from can support the encoding of the generated file. Free PgAdminIII will work, but it will choke on large files (>30 MB). Instead You can use Navicat PostgreSQL and execute the files as batches to your db server.
When creating the DSN make sure you choose the following options (careful, different from defaults):
You say: Cool, I'm sold, what's the 1 Caveat????
Here it is: Microsoft Access does case-insensitive comparisons in queries. PostgreSQL does case-sensitive comparisons.
When working with a Microsoft Access table, SELECT * FROM SomeTable WHERE Name = "SmItH"
can return records with corresponding name 'Smith'.
When working with a PostgreSQL linked table, it can't.
So your Access GUI might require some modifications after all.
Enjoy...
Your database is growing larger and is becoming slower.
You don't like Access's behavior on a multi-user environment.
You want to keep your existing Access application as a front-end (all your business rules are there after all).
You want a solution that is scalable, reliable, Open Source.
Fear not!
Here is the solution.
- Read the instructions in exportSQL3.2-dev (VB code) to export your schema and data into SQL files.
- Run the generated SQL files against your PostgreSQL db.
- Download the latest PostgreSQL ODBC driver and create a DSN for your PostgreSQL db.
- Use Access' Link Table funtionality to link to the tables of your PostgreSQL db.
- Your Access UI (forms, reposts, queries, macros, modules) should work seamlessly (with 1 caveat... So read below)
exportSQL3 already exists out there. I just made some enhancements to better support PostgreSQL, especially when its tables will be used by Access.
What exportSQL3.2-dev will do for you:
- DataType Conversion (Including OLE objects)
- Primary Keys, Unique Keys and Indexes.
- Default Values and Null constraints
- AutoIncrement fields
- Something I might be forgetting (so read the comments in exportSQL3.2)
What exportSQL3.2-dev does not (yet?) support.
-Foreign Keys (aka Relationships)
Use the latest PostgreSQL db server and ODBC driver and you should not face any problems with non-English characters, as long as your PostgreSQL database encoding is in UTF-8. (The ODBC driver will handle the conversions properly).
Also, when running the INSERT SQL queries (the ones in the "add" generated file), you need to make sure that your client where you run the queries from can support the encoding of the generated file. Free PgAdminIII will work, but it will choke on large files (>30 MB). Instead You can use Navicat PostgreSQL and execute the files as batches to your db server.
When creating the DSN make sure you choose the following options (careful, different from defaults):
You say: Cool, I'm sold, what's the 1 Caveat????
Here it is: Microsoft Access does case-insensitive comparisons in queries. PostgreSQL does case-sensitive comparisons.
When working with a Microsoft Access table, SELECT * FROM SomeTable WHERE Name = "SmItH"
can return records with corresponding name 'Smith'.
When working with a PostgreSQL linked table, it can't.
So your Access GUI might require some modifications after all.
Enjoy...
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Cocoa vs Cacao
Imagine the concept of a chocolate-based drink.
Attach a name to that.
If you are thinking english you would pronounce "ko-ko", when really you should pronounce "ko-ko-a", cause that's what you wrote.
But that's not the point.
Operate the following transform on the concept: o --> a, a -->o
You get something pronounced "ka-ka-o". That's "ko-ko".
Going "koo-koo"?
Attach a name to that.
If you are thinking english you would pronounce "ko-ko", when really you should pronounce "ko-ko-a", cause that's what you wrote.
But that's not the point.
Operate the following transform on the concept: o --> a, a -->o
You get something pronounced "ka-ka-o". That's "ko-ko".
Going "koo-koo"?
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Phoenix forever...
- Saturday night club-crawl.
- Jean Grey - Phoenix.
How can you possibly tie the two together?
EZ...
Last club we visited on Saturday was displaying on its TVs, yes you guessed it...
X-Men Animated Series - The Phoenix Saga!!!
Can't wait for X3, out in May 26.
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