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Mad's Log


Mad

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Well, I thought, I'll keep up the "tradition" and write a (B)log.
Since we do have a newsletter, you will find the less serious stuff or only loosely related stuff in here.

Have fun - that's what it's all about :)
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And for the start, some sad news: Stanislaw Lem is dead. :( He died on the 27th of March in a Klinik near Kraków.
If you do speak german, you can read an obituary on [url="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/71339"]heise online.[/url]
A general overview on his life can be found on [url="http://www.lem.pl/english/main.htm"]this webpage[/url].
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[quote name='Azrael' date='Mar 30 2006, 01:05 AM']Three different consecutive posts in one hour? amateur blogger! :P
[right][post="152095"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
Well, they were kind of unrelated, so I imagined they might best go in different posts... Besides.. it filles the log... :D ;)
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Read an article about [url="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/71466"]hydrogen's future as energy transfer medium[/url] today. The german Umwelt Bundesamt (state department of enivroment) is not too enthusiastic about it's future use due to the high costs and the low gain of hydrogen motors. They say that these are problems that can't be dealt with in the near future.
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The main problem is how to get the hydrogen; electrolysis? Forget it, the electrical grid is already overtaxed. That's why we cant have electric cars in any great number, ditto for hydrogen. Hydrogen cars are basically electric cars one step removed.


FUSION NOW! Pass it on!
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[quote name='stewart' date='Mar 30 2006, 10:40 PM']The main problem is how to get the hydrogen; electrolysis?  Forget it, the electrical grid is already overtaxed.  That's why we cant have electric cars in any great number, ditto for hydrogen.  Hydrogen cars are basically electric cars one step removed.


FUSION NOW!  Pass it on!
[right][post="152136"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
The main idea was, to get the energy for the hydrolysis from regeneratable energies, like solar energy. But, as they had to addmit, it's not gonna work for a reasonable price.
Fusion would be good... just 50 more years to go... <_<
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[quote name='Mad' date='Mar 30 2006, 03:45 PM'][quote name='stewart' date='Mar 30 2006, 10:40 PM']The main problem is how to get the hydrogen; electrolysis?  Forget it, the electrical grid is already overtaxed.  That's why we cant have electric cars in any great number, ditto for hydrogen.  Hydrogen cars are basically electric cars one step removed.


FUSION NOW!   Pass it on!
[right][post="152136"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
The main idea was, to get the energy for the hydrolysis from regeneratable energies, like solar energy. But, as they had to addmit, it's not gonna work for a reasonable price.
Fusion would be good... just 50 more years to go... <_<
[right][post="152137"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right]
[/quote]


Is it REALLY gonna take 50 years, conveniently after every last drop off oil is dumped into the atmosphere, then SUDDENLY we'll have fusion. Hmmm? I wonder.
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Well I can't read german but I think I undestood this "Der Kaiser ist nackt" :D , although I'm not really sure about the relevance to Hydrogen?

I did read somewhere that hydrogen can be collected as an expelled gas from certain species of algae, that would remove the need for electrolysis, but you'd need a ton of algae to get a reasonable amount of hydrogen. It's the same reason ethanol from corn won't work, or desalination for fresh water, they're too expensive and it takes up too much space. Edited by testarossa
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[quote name='testarossa' date='Apr 3 2006, 06:39 PM']Well I can't read german but I think I undestood this "Der Kaiser ist nackt"  :D , although I'm not really sure about the relevance to Hydrogen?
[right][post="152357"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
The relevance to Hydrogen is, that he is the one who dares to say: "Der Kaiser ist nackt" ("The imperator is naked"), when everybody else is saying "Oh what wonderful clothes the imperator is wearing" (You do know the story of the imperator with his new clothes?). So to say, he dares to say: Hydrogene wont work in the near future.
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[quote name='testarossa' date='Apr 3 2006, 11:39 AM']Well I can't read german but I think I undestood this "Der Kaiser ist nackt"  :D , although I'm not really sure about the relevance to Hydrogen?

I did read somewhere that hydrogen can be collected as an expelled gas from certain species of algae, that would remove the need for electrolysis, but you'd need a ton of algae to get a reasonable amount of hydrogen. It's the same reason ethanol from corn won't work, or desalination for fresh water, they're too expensive and it takes up too much space.
[right][post="152357"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]


You get more energy just burning the algae directly. :D
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Guest Azrael
[quote name='Mad' date='Apr 3 2006, 03:20 PM'][quote name='testarossa' date='Apr 3 2006, 06:39 PM']Well I can't read german but I think I undestood this "Der Kaiser ist nackt"  :D , although I'm not really sure about the relevance to Hydrogen?
[right][post="152357"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
The relevance to Hydrogen is, that he is the one who dares to say: "Der Kaiser ist nackt" ("The imperator is naked"), when everybody else is saying "Oh what wonderful clothes the imperator is wearing" (You do know the story of the imperator with his new clothes?). So to say, he dares to say: Hydrogene wont work in the near future.
[right][post="152361"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right]
[/quote]
Do you mean "Emperor" ?
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[quote name='Mad' date='Apr 3 2006, 10:20 AM']The relevance to Hydrogen is, that he is the one who dares to say: "Der Kaiser ist nackt" ("The imperator is naked"), when everybody else is saying "Oh what wonderful clothes the imperator is wearing" (You do know the story of the imperator with his new clothes?). So to say, he dares to say: Hydrogene wont work in the near future.
[right][post="152361"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

No never heard the story of the "emperor's new clothes", is it some sort of German tale? Shouldn't it be Chancellor? But I think I understand what you mean.


[quote name='stewart' date='Apr 3 2006, 12:53 PM']You get more energy just burning the algae directly. :D
[right][post="152372"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

I can just see the black plumes of smoke from this idea =b.
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[quote name='Azrael' date='Apr 4 2006, 02:10 AM']Do you mean "Emperor" ?
[right][post="152380"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
Kaiser = imperator = emperor. :)

[quote name='testarossa' date='Apr 4 2006, 03:03 AM']No never heard the story of the "emperor's new clothes", is it some sort of German tale? Shouldn't it be Chancellor? But I think I understand what you mean.[/quote]
The story, in short is the following:
The imperator (emperor) of an old empire wanted to have new clothes, but everytime his tailors brought him new ones, they were not good enough, not shiny enough, not light eough. Then one day, one tailor was pretty upset, so he decided to give the imperator no clothes at all, and he said, look at this fine dress, it's so light and shimering, that you don't even see it. The imperator was very pleased and showed himself to the public. Noone dared to say "the imperator is naked". That's it. more or less. :) Don't know if it's special german, but I don't think so. Edited by Mad
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[quote name='Mad' date='Apr 5 2006, 02:08 AM']The story, in short is the following:
The imperator (emperor) of an old empire wanted to have new clothes, but everytime his tailors brought him new ones, they were not good enough, not shiny enough, not light eough. Then one day, one tailor was pretty upset, so he decided to give the imperator no clothes at all, and he said, look at this fine dress, it's so light and shimering, that you don't even see it. The imperator was very pleased and showed himself to the public. Noone dared to say "the imperator is naked". That's it. more or less. :) Don't know if it's special german, but I don't think so.
[right][post="152414"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
The slightly longer form, with one or two points Mad has left out:
[url="http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1620.html"]http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1620.html[/url]
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- CTD is still searching for talented (or not so talented, but willing to learn it) javascript coders. We started a project I just don't have the time to finish. Please PM me if you are intersted - it's not a big thing actually.

- A few UFO CTs were moved back to active, first, because they didn't have a thread anymore and only existed in the SVN, which always is a bad thing, and second, because they don't perfectly fit the current style of the X-Net anymore and lack Fluffs. Anyone with good ideas is welcome to cotribute some funny or serious lines.

- We are trying to complete a bunch of texts which have been lying dead in "Proofreading" for a while now. The goal is five CTs in the next two weeks, though I sincerely hope we wil lbe able to do more.

- The CTD part of the Xenocide planning MS Project file on the SVN is now nearly complete. Only thing missing are the Bugtracker task numbers, but I will file all tasks in the next days, meaning that we will from now on use the BUGS on a regular basis to assign and monitor tasks. Red Knight will try to keep the pdf version of Xenocide Planning.mpp up to date, but if you want to be sure, it's advised you have a look at the MS Project File - that is if you have access to MS Project. If not you can always PM me and ask. :)

- I got the OK from my university for a research project in Bangladesh. I will be there for three months in summer, but, don't worry, I will have internet access. :) Probably not 24 hours a day, but enough to keep on working on the project.

On a completely unrelated matter ESA - the european space agency, is working on a space program to deflect incoming asteroids. [url="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/NEO/SEMZRZNVGJE_0.html"]http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/NEO/SEMZRZNVGJE_0.html[/url]
They now started the next pahse of the project, in which several companies are working on the technical realization.
Kind of reminds me of starship troopers... :) Edited by Mad
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  • 2 weeks later...
- I almost forgot to mention it! Zombie is now a full member of our comunity! Congrats! :)

- Synchronization of Xenocide planning.mpp and the bugtracker is nearly complete. From now on the distribution of tasks inside the CTD will be done with the BUGS. Every developer should get a developer account for the Bugtracker so tasks can be assigned to him and he is able to change the current status of CTs assigned to him.

- I had an easter vacation full of work. Don't ask if I'm relaxed, 'cause I'm not. :)
[url="http://www.ea.com/official/cc/cc3/us/index.jsp"]http://www.ea.com/official/cc/cc3/us/index.jsp[/url] Edited by Mad
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  • 2 weeks later...
- Nvidia is giving away their renderer [url="http://www.nvidia.com/page/gelato.html"]Gelato 2.0[/url] for free.
System requirement is a GeForce FX5200 GFX Board or better.
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  • 5 weeks later...
- CTD is gathering speed again! Kafros, Moriarty and Zombie are back from their RL induced leaves and are already working on several CTs!

- On a related matter we have two graduates who deserve our congratulations: Kafros has finished high school and will shortly visit an university for computer science, and Moriarty has finished his studies and is now a full fledged physician! (I recommend you don't visit any german hospitals anymore - you never know where he could be hiding... :P )
Congrats to both of you!

- We have a new - old recruit! Missing his comments for over a year, we now are glad to welcome The Master Maniac back in CTD! Edited by Mad
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  • 2 weeks later...
- I will be on a short leave until Monday. (My brother is getting married. Poor soul ;) ) Nevertheles, I'll have internet there, just not too frequent, since I guess it'll be dial-up. So if there are any threads/problems/things that require my immediate attention I would like to ask you to PM me. That'll guarantee it won't skip my attention. See you around - and behave! ;)

- And we have another new/old recruit: Blehm98 is back for good. Welcome back! Edited by Mad
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  • 2 weeks later...

- Kafros now is our official newsreporter for the webpage. That includes news as well gallery maintenance. So if something is missing - yell at him :)

 

- I'd like to repeat my call for webdevelopers quoting Red Knights post from the PR Office:

[...] nevertheless now we are open to contribution from anyone with experience in Java and MySQL to implement the required functionality allowing us a simplified updating of the site with the community information.
I might add that PHP and javascript knowledge never is a bad thing at all. :)

Please PM me for further details!

Edited by Mad
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- unfortunatly several members had to be set to MIA - but I'm even more proud of those who are working hard for the project even if their timeschedule is tight and they are completely swamped! Project Xenocide is fortunate to have people like you on board!

 

- I will be on an extended weekend to get my sister married to her boyfriend. I will be back on Tuesday, and I don't think I will have internet there, but well... you never know - maybe a miracle happens and I will be able to check from time to time. If anything requires my immediate attention PM me, that will ensure that I will get a message if I'm able to get online. If something very serious is happening please ask Red Knight, he knows how to reach me.

Edited by Mad
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Guest Azrael
- I will be on an extended weekend to get my sister married to her boyfriend. I will be back on Tuesday, and I don't think I will have internet there, but well... you never know - maybe a miracle happens and I will be able to check from time to time. If anything requires my immediate attention PM me, that will ensure that I will get a message if I'm able to get online. If something very serious is happening please ask Red Knight, he knows how to reach me.

Did I just read that right? you're going to get your sister married to her bf? :huh?: what are you going to do? take them both at gunpoint to the altar? :laugh:

 

Anywho, enjoy yourself :)

 

got anymore sisters...?

 

edit: who do I contact if I don't immediately need you?

Edited by Azrael
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Did I just read that right? you're going to get your sister married to her bf? :huh?: what are you going to do? take them both at gunpoint to the altar? :laugh:

Well, I hope this won't be necessary, but I'm prepared anyway... :P

 

Anywho, enjoy yourself :)

Thanks, I will :)

 

got anymore sisters...?

Yea, one 38 year old one... want some? :P

 

edit: who do I contact if I don't immediately need you?

Depends. Normally Red Knight, but I guess if you have a specific question to a CT kafros will surely know an answer.

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Guest Azrael
got anymore sisters...?

Yea, one 38 year old one... want some? :P

A little too experienced for me :P

 

edit: who do I contact if I don't immediately need you?

Depends. Normally Red Knight, but I guess if you have a specific question to a CT kafros will surely know an answer.

*takes note*

How about if I don't need you at all?

 

Hey, I can still keep track of all the texts, mind you :P

Edited by Azrael
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...
Whew! That blog has been left untouched for quite some time! So what's going on over here? After my long stay in Bangladesh where I haven't had any mentionable internet access what kind of limited my contribution to hte project, I came back only to prepare for a pretty big exam, wich I happened to pass pretty nicely just a few days ago. So, now that my alcohol levels are normalizing again and the tremor in my fingers is gone, I've picked up a good old hobby of mine and wrote a little on a new issue of the newsletter. Hope I got everything important... :) However, I still am pretty swamped with papers I have to write for RL, so I would be very grateful if someone (not necessarily a PX member) of you would see himself destined to keep the webpage (news and gallery) up to date. Just PM me, I would be more than grateful! On a related matter, I've again tried to get Database access to the webserver to allow us the implementation of a CMS, but this obviously takes some time, since it is pretty difficult to get into contact with Mindstormaster. What else? Oh, yea, I would like to thank kafros and Zombie for their commitment when we were trying to pace up the CTD speed a bit. That was awesome work you two! Thank you! Still we have very few active members and some recruits seem to misjudge the kind of work they will be doing in the CTD, resulting in one-time posts. I have to say, that makes me kind of sad, so I tried to make it as clear as possible. Seems I scared some people away. I'd like to apologize to everyone who feels I was too harsh in my post, but I don't see a reason to take away someones time if he doesn't really know what it will be like working with us. So why am I telling you guys all this? I guess I just wanted to say that I still love this project, and I think, this must be for a reason. So what is it? And why are there only so few people out there who feel the same way? Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very proud and happy to know and to work with all of you! Thanks for being around, and thanks for your time you dedicate to this Project!
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I guess I just wanted to say that I still love this project, and I think, this must be for a reason. So what is it? And why are there only so few people out there who feel the same way? Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very proud and happy to know and to work with all of you! Thanks for being around, and thanks for your time you dedicate to this Project!

So, it's not because you cannot stand not reading my occassional post? or maybe the nude wednesdays?

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So, it's not because you cannot stand not reading my occassional post? or maybe the nude wednesdays?

Well, the nude wednesdays are not too bad, but you see, since we up here don't wear clothes at any time, it's not that spectecular. And I think you made some grammar mistakes in the other sentence. Let me help you. I think you wanted to say: "Sooo, it's not you do although you cannot not stand reading my occasional post?" See? It all makes sense!

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Ok Mad, doooooon't worry, we love you too :P[...]

Hey, wait a sec! I didn't say I love any of you bastards!

I said we love you, that doesn't mean we DO love you! We just want to take your place in the Senior team xD

Yeah; I've always wanted to be a Senior, can I? :rolleyes:

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  • 1 year later...

This has been quiet for over a year now.

However, I'll revive this for a short message: My Laptop is still more or less dead, which is why you are not hearing too much of me atm.

 

So, I kind of decided to order a new one, which puts me in a precarious situation: Shall I order it with Vista or XP...?

Vista supports all these nice Gadgets like... uhm... looking nice and shiny.... and.. uh... ok, it seems that it does not support anything useful at all. Asides the startmenu search option which is kind of neat. And of course the PE on the installation DvD. And DirectX 10, which I won't need for a year or so. And the fact that I want to learn new stuff... Then again, it eats up lots and lots of resources (which, obviously a new laptop does have...). On the other hand there's XP, which is reliable, and to which I'm used...

sigh... Maybe I'll just go with Ubuntu or Debian... No, probably won't, I'm just too used to Windows to use Linux in a productive manner (read: asides from fooling around with it as an end in itself...)

 

Slightly unrelated, I got several applications from people wanting to join CTD. But don't get all excited over it, this happened many times before, and most applicants never stayed too long. Guess they just can't stand my (our?) smell...

Edited by Mad
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Guest Azrael Strife

Haha, if you liked Vista's startmenu search option (which granted, it's better over XP's lack of one), you should just get XP and download Launchy, about 2 MB and is FAR more useful than Vista's search option. It indexes all the start menu shortcuts (like Vista's, I presume) and can be accessed at any time from anywhere using ALT-SPACE (or any other combination you may want) :)

 

edit: just thinking, Vista's search function must be, surely, over 100MB in space :P and surely even if it's an exaggeration, I don't think it's that far from the truth..

Edited by Azrael Strife
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WinXP SP2 x86 (32-bit) :O

Don't even think about anything else, right now it's just hassle!! -.-

 

Concerning the applicants, just tell them to read the sticky threads and read 2-3 completed texts, and then work on a CT of their preference. I think that's the best for both sides (we get people used to xenocide's style and get them used to the formar/scientific style, and they work on something they like)

 

Good luck on that laptop, if you need a second opinion I'll be more than happy to provide it :D

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Concerning the applicants, just tell them to read the sticky threads and read 2-3 completed texts, and then work on a CT of their preference. I think that's the best for both sides (we get people used to xenocide's style and get them used to the formar/scientific style, and they work on something they like)

Yea, that's what I do. And what I've done in the last year. Result is the same most of the time: They write the application, maybe they send one comment and then they're gone.... Nothing really one can do about it I'm afraid

 

Good luck on that laptop, if you need a second opinion I'll be more than happy to provide it :D

hehe, thanks for the offer, but I'm already 100% sure what it'll be.

 

Just that vista thing. I mean, I knew what both of you would say before you even read my post, and it would probably be what I would write. But then again, I have always been an early adopter, and Vista is the first time I'm kind of breaking with tradition.... It bugs me that there's a windows out there and I don't even know more than that it exists (ok, and that it's not the best choice around... ok, and then the stuff out of the pc magazines, but you get my idea...)

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Don't listen to them, I have been running Vista 64 on all 3 computers I own, before service pack one came out and now I have SP1 on all as well, runs ever app I have ever used on xp, no blue screens and I game all the time.
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Guest Azrael Strife
Yeah, don't listen to just about every single magazine, computer expert, blog entry and everything non-MS that I've come across on the Internet and paper articles to date :P
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:D

 

Look I don't say that windows vista sucks. I just think that what they provide isn't reeeeeeeally worth the price tag. I can do my job as easily in WinXP as in Vista. For me working on Vista is like working on Ubuntu with Compiz: Wasting time with the nice graphics :P

 

And yes the only problems I've had with 64-bit is that I can't run too old applications (probably 16-bit) and that my webcam is the only one in the Creative line that doesn't have x64 drivers (unlucky xD).

 

That is, If you want Vista x64 try them! I just think it's a biiiit overkill :)

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x32. not x64. too many problems with x64... :)

 

I've studied now Philosophy

And Jurisprudence, Medicine,

And even, alas! Theology

All through and through with ardour keen!

Here now I stand, poor fool, and see

I'm just as wise as formerly.

Am called a Master, even Doctor too,

And now I've nearly ten years through

Pulled my students by their noses to and fro

And up and down, across, about,

And see there's nothing we can know!

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