5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Count!

Today I visited a webpage and saw this image:

At first, I thought it was a simple counter advertisement that looked like a countdown. But I was actually the 54321-th person to visit that webpage! Reloading it in a new tab showed a different number :D

What did you say? I should try the lottery today?... Nah, this kind of thing never works when you actually have something to earn from it. ☹

xkcd effect

After this xkcd.com comic strip :


we can see the effect :

ext3 on Windows

Some time ago, I needed to access one ext3 partition under Windows, so I searched for a driver.

The most popular one (by far) seemed to be http://www.fs-driver.org/ . However, I had no luck with that one. It was showing my partitions as unformatted (!) and I had to download a separate tool for diagnostics. After running the fsck that was needed, it turns out that it's not compatible with this particular disc's geometry - or something. FYI, it was a standard 250GB laptop HD.

Some more searching showed http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/ , which works like a charm. Its only "problem" is that it needs a reboot after you install it, but it won't tell you, so you must reboot your Windows after the installation even without being prompted.

Have fun :)

Insane ad

... And if you want to avoid getting stuck in traffic, you should buy a car with a more powerful engine?...

Seriously. People may not care about faster CPUs anymore, because most common application don't need CPU speed. I can understand Intel wants to convince them to buy fast CPUs. But... please... can't their advertisements be sensible?

Destructive art

I went to a modern art exhibition today. Many pieces of art had a destructive force, filled with fear or anger, giving you the impression that we ought to destroy everything and start over if we have to create a better world.

But why?

Personally, I love the world we live in. It may not be perfect, but we have many things that we never seem to appreciate - ok, not everyone does, but I bet that the readers of this article, as well as the creators of the aforementioned pieces of art, sure do.
We have a comfortable bed in a room.
We have some food in the fridge and some water to drink - and even a vast choice on what we'll eat.
We have heating for the cold days.
We have our hygiene, easy access to a warm shower, and access to medical care when we need it.
We have our education, however good or bad it may be, it's still better than not having it.
We have the freedom to go out, meet our friends, express ourselves and laugh.
We have the ability to write down our thoughts, start a chain mail that will get spread instantly, or write them down in a blog, and be heard by friends, as well as complete strangers.
We have the ability to produce some music, a short film, a piece of art, and promote it online, and know that anyone can find us and appreciate our creations.
We have a critical mass of people that will find creative, constructive ways to react to whatever they do not like, and fight for a better world.

However wrong our world may be, I think this is enough. And I love it. We shouldn't stop fighting for the best, but we shouldn't destroy all this either.

Texas Stadium Fail

Picture by: Randrage Submitted by: Randrage via Fail Uploader

Found on: http://failblog.org/2009/09/14/texas-stadium-fail/

No comments here, dear reader :)

Swine flu: don't panic!

I just found a link to a document with a lot of useful information about swine flu here : http://www.equipocesca.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/swine-flu-common-sense-7.doc

Quoting the abstract:

1. Swine flu is very contagious. But the severity of swine flu is much lower than the seasonal flu (the flu of normal winters).

2. Swine flu demands common sense and calmness, as for seasonal flu. Contact your physician only in severe cases, such as coughing up blood or significant difficulty breathing.

3. Medications for swine flu such as Tamiflu and Relenza do not prevent the disease, and they are not useful for treatment in healthy people, They have common side effects some of which are serious causing admission to hospital. These medications might be useful in severe cases, but this is unproven.

4. Vaccine against swine flu is experimental. Nobody knows how effective it will be in preventing the disease or how safe it will be.

5. Swine flu does not have any different consequences for pregnant women than seasonal flu.

6. Previous flu pandemics do not produce high mortality since we have had antibiotics to cure pneumonias which complicate flu. Previous flu pandemics have no “second wave” and if it takes place it is not likely to be more severe.

7. Health services must always take care of thousands of acute and chronic patients, and it is important not to waste time and resources for mild cases of swine flu.

I remember a doctor that I know having told me something similar not long ago. In short: don't panic, it's just a mild flu :)