Linxe's eye

Last March, the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata joined the ISS, staying until few days ago. Besides his scientific task, he was doing a list of experiments for the people (selected in a contest), the list includes: 1. Calisthenics: Is it possible to follow an audio-guided workout program in zero gravity? 2. Backflips: On Earth, backflips take a lot of practice and leg strength. How about in zero gravity? 3. Volleying (soccer): Crumple a piece of paper into a ball and try kicking it around. How does the ball behave in zero gravity? Can you volley it? 4. Push-ups: In space, can you do push-ups while facing the ceiling or walls? 5. Cartwheels: In zero gravity, can you rotate yourself continuously like a windmill? 6. Swimming: Try to swim through the air as if you were in water. Can you move forward by swimming? If not, why not? 7. Spin like an ice skater: On Earth, ice skaters can increase their rotation speed by pulling their arms closer in to the body while they spin. Does the same th...

I always admired Mac as computers, cool designs, functionality in the OS, *nix in the core, everything just works. Many years ago I wished to have my own Mac, unfortunately I never had the income to buy one (Mac are even more expensive in the third-world). Twelve months ago I started to use a Mac for my everyday coding/writing work. Before this, I used Linux principally for the same tasks, so the migration was painless. My Mac is a iMac with a nice large screen (I love it!), 2GB RAM, 300 GB HD, Intel Core 2 Duo, very stylish. The exception in the design is the damn mouse, why one button? Many applications require the missing button, forcing to use the Control key, besides the scroll button is failing and failing. When I find a nice and cheap white 3-button mouse I change it. Put the terminal in the bar as access was the first thing I did, I discovered that is a common pattern for coding people like me. I was not impressed with the desktop effects, after being a regular user of Compiz/...

With my new projects I had to use -and abuse- of (pseudo)random generators. I remember my first classes of statistics when the teacher used simple examples of probabilistic events with coins or dices. After going serious in random generations, you can see a lot of research in this area. From computer algorithms to real probabilities, random is anywhere (specially in data validation, a common task in this new age high throughput biology). The problem with random generators is you can never be sure is totally random, then some approaches use less sophisticated but effective random generators like this: In this case, is a special machine for a games company named GamesByEmail.com, as you see, they automatically roll dices and take a picture, then a computer process the image and return the numbers. I must confess, I have a 8-Magic-Ball (Eragon edition) in my desk to answer the important questions in my life.

I like more the concept of a mouse inside the CPU, but this is a great video: Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo .

Finally I have a netbook, the Asus EeePC 1000HA, a nice mini-laptop in white pearl. The hardware specifications are: Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor 160GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz) 10” WSVGA LED-Backlit 1024 x 600 LCD Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), lock slot, Ethernet 10/100 Webcam (1.3 MP) Speakers and microphone built-in Battery: 7.4v 6600mAh 6-cell battery (3.5 - 7 hrs) Wireless: 802.11b/g Size: 25 cm (W) x 19 cm (D) x 3 cm (H) Weight: less than 1.5 kg The worst part is the SO, I don't understand why this model is exclusively sold with the almost-dead XP, so I installed the latest Mandriva release. Because this system require an external drive to boot an installer, I download the image for the official mirrors (inside /MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586/install/images/ ) named all.img , this is a prepared image to copy in a USB drive and includes a boot-loader and the basic tools for a net...

Infoworld reveals the biggest cults in tech : The Way of the Palm Established: 1996 Gathering of the tribes: The Palm Forums Major deities: Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky Sacred relics: Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 Mantra: The Pre will set us free Brotherhood of the Ruby Established: 1994 Gathering of the tribes: RailsConf , RubyConf Major deities: Matz , DHH Mantra: MINSWAN ( Matz is nice, so we are nice) The Ubuntu tribe Established: 2004 Gathering of the tribes: Ubuntu Developer Summits Major deity: Linus Torvalds Minor deity: Mark Shuttleworth Animal spirit guides: Breezy badgers, dapper drakes, feisty fawns, gutsy gibbons, hardy herons, intrepid ibexes, jaunty jackalopes The Commodorians Established: 1982 Gathering of the tribes: CommVEx , C4 Expo , World of Commodore Major deity: Jack Tramiel Minor deity: Jim Butterfield (1936-2007) Sacred relic: Commodore C65 The Order of the Lisp Established: 1958 Gathering of the tribes: International Lisp Conference Major deity: John McCar...

The world is in a critical time now, the swine flu is spreading fast, the biggest impact is my loved country Mexico, reporting thousand of cases and more than 150 deceases . Other countries have been reported positive cases around the globe. Many things isn't clear, are the numbers real?, when did exactly this started?, why is this virus so different?, why are the cases in Mexico lethals ? A good review of the situation is in the Germán's Blog , he is a graduate student of the UNAM in the faculty of biomedics . (My apologizes, it's is in Spanish and I don't want to translate). By the moment, you can watch the spread with this Google Maps Mash-up: View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map Remember, the best prevention is the hygiene and medial attention as soon as you feel bad.