Dreams Unlimited©

Diary

archives

A list of recent thoughts, things I saw or things I spotted on the Net, things that excite me (Uuh, baby!) or upset me, stuff I hate or love or in any other way find worth the trouble of blogging right here for your entertainment or interest and my archive. ;)

	Monday, May 31 Beach in the afternoon at Soomers #Posted by Dreams on 22:49 This weekend was good. Saturday, I went to Sjoerd to go to the XtraLarge in Amsterdam. DJs Astrid, Jochen, Spider and another played there. That's a sure thing for a great evening! And the weather was great too! Got to bed at 05:00... On Sunday morning (uuummpf), I grabbed a train to go to Petra's parents and celebrate her mom's birthday. In Amsterdam, the weather was windy and gray when I got up, but the more North I went, the clearer and bluer the skies got. When I arrived in Assen, it was sunny, warm and blue! :) Then on Monday, a National Holiday, it rained and was cold. So we were glad to hop on the train and go home, get some work done. However, Antonique called and said to meet at the beach... Beach? "Yes, it's perfect here, sunny, warm, nice!" Huh? But by the time we entered Amersfoort station, it was sunny and blue and we enjoyed a wonderful sunny beach afternoon at Soomers. :D Woohoo!
	Saturday, May 29 Photos from ENIAC #Posted by Dreams on 13:58 I've updated my gallery with photos from two ENIAC events last week. First I went to the Topicus BOL on Tuesday and on Wednesday I went to the Inter-Actief symposium on ICT in logistics, transport and so on. Topicus is yet another university spin-off or spin-out, related to UTopics and Ordina. We had a small lecture there by a fellow alumni on ICT in the healthcare sector. Very interesting and you wonder that some things actually go well. :)
	Friday, May 28 Download Aborted!: Can I Help to Render Shrek 3? #Posted by Dreams on 16:04 "Can I Help to Render Shrek 3?" That's what this guy asked himself. he is routinely sharing his CPU cycles with programs like SETI@home, Folding@home and so on. What if Pixar were to open up the rendering in this way, you could share your PC with them when you're not using it and you'd get free passes or a special premiere!? Wouldn't that be cool! In the credits it could say: rendered on renderman by you :D LOL Excellent idea though!
	Cisco makes a new router with room to grow #Posted by Dreams on 10:14 "The CRS-1 Single-Shelf System consists of a single, 16-slot Line-Card Shelf with total switching capacity of 1.2 Tbps." Yes, look again! That 1.2 terabits per second! 1200 gigabits or 1,200,000 megabits per second. My ADSL line has a down speed of 2 megabits per second. With this single machine, my provider KPN, could handle route and manage 600,000 DSL subscriptions from a single box!!! I don't think they have that many customers at all...! :D
	Thursday, May 27 Family in the Netherlands? #Posted by Dreams on 14:34 Americans are proud to say they have some European heritage. Don't know why. Maybe they feel inferior somehow and want to stress the fact they originated from European trash and outlaws once. :) Haha, just kidding. Either way, there is a site for the Netherlands where you can enter your last name and find where your relatives live. Pretty cool! In my case, it goes to show that I am right to claim that I am a city person. Now I can prove it!
	DIY WiFi antenna of $5 gets 3-5km range #Posted by Dreams on 10:23 This guy from New Zealand has built himself a small antenna from households items to get a 3-5km connection from ordinary WiFi using Line of Sight (LOS). In other words, does your business lie about 3 km from your house and youcan get a clear LOS? Well, either you can surf for free using your company's network or vice versa, but for a couple of dollars there is no reason why you shouldn't! Impressive! :respect:
	Tuesday, May 25 CodeWeavers - CrossOver Office #Posted by Dreams on 15:01 CrossOver Office: "CrossOver Office allows you to install your favorite Windows productivity applications and plugins in Linux, without needing a Microsoft Operating System license. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing a Windows application simple and fast." Damn! That's good news! Excellent! Now if only someone could try this for me. It's still $35 to pay... ;)
	Group dynamics play out in VR #Posted by Dreams on 14:57 "Shared virtual environments are often fantasy spaces where people interact using avatars endowed with supernatural powers. In contrast, simulations of large, real places are usually dedicated to traffic flows or disasters and involve independent software agents rather than avatars controlled by humans." They're talkign about Freewalk. Woow, talk about a blast from the past! Virtual Environment used to be one of my expertise fields back when I was working at KPN Research (now: TNO Telecom). It seems the topic still isn't dead and no less serious than we were. Of course, playing Quake really did have a business value. Honestly! I swear! ;)
	TMLC and system-integrator Wisdom join forces #Posted by Dreams on 13:17 TMLC and system-integrator Wisdom (sorry, news in Dutch only) have merged recently. TMLC is a web design company founded in 1996 or so by some of my former colleagues from KPN Research. They made the move in the perfect time and were there to harvest in the Internet boom. Congratulations, guys!
	BetaNews \| Windows Update Refreshed as XP SP2 Nears #Posted by Dreams on 13:00 Windows Update Gets Refreshed as XP SP2 Nears, reports BetaNews. You can even test it our yourself, already.
	Monday, May 24 InfoWorld: Good-bye PCI, hello PCI Express #Posted by Dreams on 17:35 InfoWorld writes: "One of the most comprehensive refreshes of Intel architecture will start rolling out this summer. The PCI Express bus will replace current I/O interfaces, such as PCI for device interconnects and AGP8X for graphics, on all servers, workstations, desktops, notebooks, and communications devices." This mostly means networking and graphics. Most servers are so fast, PCI can't keep up with 1Gb and 10Gb network cards. Also today's video cards are pushing the system buses to its limits. PCI Express hopes to relieve all this. But for notebooks, it may mean that we can upgrade our notebook's video card in the near future. "With graphics upgradeability, there is now one less reason to buy a desktop PC, according to Rob Enderle, analyst at Enderle Group. [...] On the downside, old expansion cards will not work, and on notebooks, it appears most of the manufacturers will offer a PCI Express Card slot in place of a PC Card slot, requiring entirely new cards."
	Blog Software Breakdown #Posted by Dreams on 00:15 OK, nerd alert... but sometimes it's the best way. If you're interested in the differences between the many many blogs out there and what they cost, what they (can't) do, where they run and so on... Check the Blog Software Breakdown, which is still a work in progress, I think. It's already very extensive, though.
	Sunday, May 23 How a 3D display screen works #Posted by Dreams on 22:24 Here is a little more info on how these 3D display LCD screens from Philips work. B) Very cool, indeed! (y) :respect:
	3D Display - Royal Philips Electronics (Research) #Posted by Dreams on 22:22 Royal Philips Electronics has demostrated 3D displays: "Philips technology is now ready to do just that by bringing together the Company's strengths in LCD manufacture, optical screen design and image processing software and hardware. The displays can be used without wearing special glasses and represent a new way of looking at things in medical applications, 3D gaming and even 3D TV." Cool! B) Applications are everywhere... Anyone working on a 3D driver for Quake 3 yet? ;)
	Baby Gadgets: The Why Cry Analyzer #Posted by Dreams on 17:24 The Why Cry Analyzer will tell you why your baby cries, so you no longer have to run for the crib for no good reason just because your flesh-and-blood is just as attention hungry as yourself! LOL
	CMU's snooping robot going to Iraq #Posted by Dreams on 16:44 That's not a robot! That's a robot! CMU made a robot that can be used for surveilance and snooping inside buildings or in dangerous areas. The robot has no right side up and is remotely controlled by an operator. It can be thrown off 2nd and 3rd story floors, over fences and out of moving cars! Damn!
	Let the partying begin!!! #Posted by Dreams on 16:30 Shit shit shit, of I was a few days too late, I missed the parties at beachclub Wij (TILT) and Billabong Beach... But you can rest assured I'll be ready for the next couple of parties. :D
	Saturday, May 22 Funny Video and Photo Archive - www.funnyplace.org #Posted by Dreams on 14:04 www.funnyplace.org is a place to get all the recent funny advertisements from the US. Together with www.kicken.com, you have the best Dutch and American ads right at your fingertips! (Thanks for the tip, Sjoerd!) Add Dave's Trailer page to that and you'll find it harder and harde to even leave home.. 'coz for what!?! LOL :D
	Securom Patch for Homeworld 2 #Posted by Dreams on 13:59 You may know I play Sierra's Homeworld 2 and love it. However, somehow, sometimes it won't start up again after I've played it, unless I reboot. The Securom protection warns me that it detected Virtual CD emulator software, etc. But I don't have that (really!). Thankfully, support was very helpful and pointed me to an updated executable for Homeworld 2. Just download that, replace the old file and everything will be fine! (y)
	Friday, May 21 Google will soon search your own PC too #Posted by Dreams on 12:17 From the Seattle Post: "Web search engine Google is preparing to introduce a powerful file-and-text software search tool for locating information stored on personal computers. Improved technology for searching information stored on a PC also will be a key feature of Microsoft's long-delayed version of its Windows operating system called Longhorn. That version, which is not expected before 2006 at the earliest, will have a redesigned file system, making it possible to track and retrieve information in ways not currently possible with Windows software."
	Thursday, May 20 magicthegathering.com #Posted by Dreams on 18:35 Official holiday today, so I went to play Magic: the Gathering with my friends from Force Elektro! Damn! They have a lot of decks! ;) Great fun, especially the home built decks. (y) Cool!
	Wednesday, May 19 Opening Rotterdam Beach #Posted by Dreams on 23:36 Tonight, Sjoerd, Martin, Femke, Petra (perhaps) and I will be going to the opening of the Rotterdam beach front, near the Erasmusbridge in Rotterdam. DJs Benny Rodgrigues and Miss Monica will play there for free. I had no idea what they'd do for beach, but it's nice enough. Enough room for great parties, BBQs and frisbee. That's all that matters. Good vibes, good music, food and drinks. Now for the good weather... ;)
	Blogs for Business: What's The Buzz? #Posted by Dreams on 14:15 In What's The Buzz? CickZ writes about interesting things that blogs can do for businesses. Bloggers are influencers. They are usually people who have an informed opinion, who are current and up-to-date and won't immediatly slay down new things. So if businesses use these bloggers for their business and give them test products, previews, etc., the opinions of those bloggers about these products can do simple and free advertising for them throught the Blogosphere... Cool! Send me something! I'll test any gadget for! Or PC game! Or mobile phone? Cool new trendy clothing even... I'm waiting... :)
	SHREK 2 is coming out tomorrow! #Posted by Dreams on 13:39 Just got an Email from Dreamworks: SHREK 2 is coming out tomorrow! IMDB says it will open in the Netherlands on July 1st... sigh Why can't they just open the original version here somewhat sooner? I'll gladly wait for the Dutch-spoken version in July, but gimme the US version NOW... Goddamnit! Have you no hearts?! ;)
	Sony Bets on Blue Lasers #Posted by Dreams on 13:31 First, we saved data on ancient 8" floppy disks (you don't remember that, do you?!). They stored about 140-170 KB. Then we got 5.25" floppies, storing 360KB. Soon, that was too small and we got 3.5" not-so-floppy floppies with room for 1440 KB. :) That lastest us for a while, but we soon had to span several disks for one large program so it was only a matter of time until CDs came around. A whopping 650,000 KB seemed to enough for ever!!! Yeah right! :) NOT! Audio and mp3s quickly made 650 MB seem like the good old floppy! Let alone the space for a decently encoded movie! So now we have DVDs offering us 4,700,000 KB of storage. However, you're harddisk holds often more than 80,000,000 KB, so it's still a huge pile of DVDs to back-up your harddisk. That's why Sony Bets on Blue Lasers. :) 23 GB (or 23,000,000 KB) on a single conventional DVD with dual layers soon too follow and double sided soon after that (early 2006 I seem to remember)... Coooool. Now if I only had ?3000 for a USB version...? Someone want to donate me some money over PayPal...?
	Vroom, vroom, vrooooooooom #Posted by Dreams on 12:27 KPN, the network provider for ADSL by service provider XS4ALL, will once again increase access speeds while keeping prices the same! Woohoo! insert Speedy Gonzales sound here On June 15th, at the latest, all upgrades should have taken places and work commences on May 24th. :respect:
	Petition against Software Patents #Posted by Dreams on 10:47 OK, they're at it again. The EU now accepted a proposal for Software Patents. The revisons they made last time, to limit the reach of those patents have been largely removed, so we're back at something we don't want. I'm pissed! So I signed the Petition against Software Patents in a hope to be able to do something. Because if you check the patents that cover webshops, you'll get scared like I did... :'(
	smugmug - nigritude ultramarine (nigritude-ultramarine)'s photo galleries #Posted by Dreams on 00:23 smugmug - nigritude ultramarine (nigritude-ultramarine)'s photo galleries This is a test, this is only test. If this would be a real blog, something useful would be seen here. This is a test.
	Zuco 103 #Posted by Dreams on 00:00 Zuco 103 wil be at Parkpop!!! WOOHOO! :D Damn, now I gotta cancel my frisbee match... hmm, we'll see.
	Tuesday, May 18 Frisbee Tournament in Arendonk #Posted by Dreams on 16:07 Last weekend, I wanted to play frisbee in a tournament in Arendonk (Belgium): First Strike. It was organised by the Arendonk UFOs. Sadly, I pulled my left calf muscle during practise on Thursday, so I ended up being coach, supporter, waterboy, keeping scores, etc. But... I was also photographer :D and finally got a chance to shoot pictures of frisbee during great weather! :) The pictures did not turn out so well, still don't understand why, although Petra says it's probably due to the sun's light shining in the camera and perhaps some odd setting... :( Oh well, live and learn.
	Transit of Venus or "Venus Returns for Its Shining Hour" #Posted by Dreams on 10:38 "The world is about to witness a rare spectacle that once launched expeditions to ideal vantage points around the globe and inspired millions of people to venture outside and stare at the heavens." About twice per century (100 years!), Venus flies between the Sun and Earth resulting in a mini eclipse. On June 8th, this so-called Transit of Venus will occur again. Back in 1882, it launched several expeditions to various locations around the world in order to try and determine the exact distance between the Earth and the Sun (at that time still unknown or widely varying). Today, it might still launch expeditions (whereto?) but probably only because everyone wants to record the event on their digicams and/or digital video recorders. Another couple or Terabytes wasted with amateur material... ;) Just kidding!
	Monday, May 17 Dabber exploits Sasser flaw \| The Register #Posted by Dreams on 16:18 The Register reports about a new worm that installs by using a backdoor in the Sasser worm. LOL So you're not really vunerable unless you already have a big problem with the Sasser worm... You gotta love nerds... Who comes up with these things? ;)
	Hardened PHP #Posted by Dreams on 16:15 Hardened PHP is a site useful for anyone who hosts or works with PHP. It's a special add-on that increases the security level of PHP installations, adding several precautions as well as adding full logging of all attacks!
	Butterflies! #Posted by Dreams on 13:09 My friend Werner made gorgeous pictures of Butterflies in Amsterdam, somewhere. Altough he is not entirely satisfied with the pictures, I thought they were beautiful, nonetheless.
	Saturday, May 15 Dave's Trailer Page... moved! #Posted by Dreams on 00:14 Dave's Trailer Page moved to it's own domain. Cool B) In case you don't know, new movie trailers each week! Highly recommended if you have broadband! :)
	Friday, May 14 Rotterdam... Beach? #Posted by Dreams on 12:21 On Wednesday, the 19th, Rotterdam will get it's own beach! Beach? Yes! Next to the Erasmusbrug they'll dump several metric tons of sand, turning the Leuvenhoofd into beach property! Offcial opening is at 2000hrs, 8pm. But the best part... Right after the opening by the mayor, Benny Rodrigues and Miss Monica will open the p a r t y!!! Woohoo! Start checking the weather and keep a close watch... :) (Also Now&Wow will reopen on May14 and 15th - that's today!)
	Jazzclub Pannonica - Special offers in may and June #Posted by Dreams on 12:03 If you want to go to Jazzclub Pannonica these next two months, be sure to send an Email to them at least 4 days before you're coming. In the Email, state that you would like to have a Dinner Plus. That will get you a good dinner incl. a glass of wine, for ?25 p.p. If you'd also like to attend a show hat evening, you are entitled to 25% off the admission fee for concert starting at 10pm or later and you get a reserved table up front! By signing up for their newsletter, you can get these offers in your own mailbox! ;)
	Wednesday, May 12 smugmug - Dreams : France - Condat #Posted by Dreams on 00:01 I put the other pictures I made while visiting my parents in France, online too.
	Tuesday, May 11 Official Google Blog #Posted by Dreams on 22:56 Ev finally got the go-ahead for the official Google Blog. So now you can know what they're upto (to a point of course, eh!), thinking of, trying out and testing... Cool! B)
	Pizza Party - Command Line Pizza ordering program #Posted by Dreams on 08:53 OK, we know the coffeecam, to see if there is any coffee left before going there. But computers have always shown a severe lack of features when it came to ordering pizza for you. No more! With Pizza Party, a Command Line Pizza ordering program your PC can take over these daunting tasks as well. Fully GNU licensed it saves preferences and offers support for popular items... :nerd: Excellent!
	Condat #Posted by Dreams on 08:12 Last week, Petra, my sister, my neice and I went to visit my parents in France. They recently bought a cute little summer house in Condat, just 60 km South of Cahors, near Fumel. We helped fix up the place, sand, paint, the garden, etc. At the end of the week, I made a few pictures to show what the results are... ;)
	Monday, May 10 Blogger Site Relaunch #Posted by Dreams on 10:28 Blogger has been completely renewed! Wow! Looks very 2004 and cool. I haven't looked around yet, but so far, I like what I see. :)
	Sunday, May 9 Welcome to Gmail #Posted by Dreams on 20:08 I have Gmail account! Ha ha!!! One Gigabyte of room in my inbox! Jeez, even on my home PC I don't have that much room allocated to mail. :) As a regular Blogger user, I was given the option of beta testing the new mail service... Cool B)
	Sloggi is for everyone #Posted by Dreams on 19:34 Ah, what are friends for? For sending you great links like this one about checking out other women's booties in the search for Holland best body work. A well known brand for panty hoses is looking for Holland's bestest! :9 Hmmm, keep 'em coming ladies! :)
	Saturday, May 1 Updated my photo galleries #Posted by Dreams on 23:11 I finally found some time to update my phot galleries! Pfff, it took me long enough! ;) Dreams' photo galleries are once again complete. I've added my second trip to the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden. The pictures from my Japanese dinner in the Tepanyaki Nippon restaurant in Amsterdam (from this weekend) are also online. On April 17th, Petra and I took a trip to Maastricht for a party. That Sunday we had breakfast in café Zondag (Sunday). :) LOL And, of course, the pictures from Marcel's and Jacqueline's wedding on April 24th are also online. And last but not least, I've uploaded my gorgeous flowers from the Spring Flower Show in the Keukenhof. Imagine a couple of million bulbs, all in bloom, in hundreds of colors and a sunny afternoon around 5pm... Go have a look!
	Slashdot \| New Windows Worm on the Loose #Posted by Dreams on 22:50 Slashdot reports that there is a New Windows Worm on the Loose... be warned!
	Queen's Day 2004 #Posted by Dreams on 11:07 This year, I spent Queen's Day in Rotterdam. Petra took some pictures to give you a small idea of what it's like. Traditionally, Amsterdam is the place to be. But it's not what it used to be. Utrecht is also supposed to be good. And The Hague, where I live, is traditionally the place to go to the evening before Queen's Day, called "Koninginnenach" or Queen's Night. The Hague fills up with people celebrating our former - and recently deceased - Queen Juliana with live music everywhere outside, bazars and flea markets on the street and so on. But I have yet to have a wonderful Queen's Day. I had one or two good days but none were great. Don't know why but maybe I'm too psyched or expect too much. Usually the weather is either too wet or too hot, the cities are too crowded, girlfriends break up with me or I'm living on a city where there is nothing much to do and I don't feel like travelling among a gazillion lunatics in the train to a better location. Next year, I think I'll just go do what I want to do, where I want to do it and leave everybody else be... Maybe I've just been too busy compromising! ;)