Scribbled on March 28th, 2009
While most other cities and suburbs around the world decided to switch off their lights for the purpose of participating in the 2009 Earth Hour, my very own city of Subotica did squat to show that they actually care, even though the city council specifically announced and confirmed there would be a 1hr dark-out on all major city monuments, and anywhere else if possible. Well, that’s a load of bullshit since I can see some major monuments from my window, and even at 21h (earth hour starts at 20:30) the whole city was lit up as always… nobody gave a damn… not to mention the residents, they are probably more informed about the weekly nominations inside the BigBrother house than about Earth Hour…
Now, I’m surely not some annoying Greenpeace hippie, and I know Earth Hour will do absolutely nothing for our planet in it’s tiny 1hr of power preservation, but it’s the thought that counts, like in every gift. If I turn off my lights, I still probably have the air conditioning, heating, TV, PC etc. turned on, which probably nullifies the saved energy from all the switched off light bulbs (and I even use CFLs), but it still counts – seeing that I’m letting others know that I give a damn and that I am aware of my surroundings.
It’s not just about the environment, it’s about the inclusion in major world events. If pretty much nobody did anything to show their participation in this happening in my neighborhood, that’s the mirror of the regional awareness in any global topic – zero – nada - null.
Enjoy your lights, people… I’m still not sure how you evolved from candles in the first place…
Scribbled on March 2nd, 2009
I’ve been flying around in Google Earth lately, usually just before bedtime, and I really don’t need to emphasize how much the combination of Google Earth and Panoramio can tell more bedtime stories then a smiling grandma, or a turned on TV set… What is weird here is my preference to browse remote areas, far away from the usual tourist attractions, far away from the city bright lights… Deserts in Utah, small towns in Alaska, Japan suburbs, small island nations, etc. – they all have a story to tell, and just by watching some of the nearby Panoramio photos (probably uploaded by their enthusiastic inhabitants) gives me the impression of how similar our lives are, and yet how exciting their overall simplicity can be. A while ago, I 
discovered a small island nation named Tuvalu. Nobody has probably heard of it, but here’s a hint: the .TV TLD was assigned to this country, but since it only has about 12,000 citizens, the government decided to lease it for use to the major domain registars, so that TV stations can get a piece of the action. (e.g. www.twit.tv)
This nation consists of a few islands, but the one with the main capitol on it (Funafuti) is what grabbed my attention. It’s surrounded by nothing but salt water, and yet a fully functioning city thrives within! Electricity, phone lines, the internet - the 
works. All that on a small speck of dust on the world map. The only means of travel to this little island is by boat, or by a small plane, which reminds me - Funafuti has an airport, and the runway takes a big chunk of it’s main territory for just being there. But it’s still a necessity, since all of the major supplies are usually transferred by air.
Moving outside the city, passing the police station, the local elementary school, the city hospital (take a look at the Panoramio pics, it’s *actually* a hospital, I kid you not), etc. is a narrow road, with a few houses surrounding it… What is the big deal about this? Well, the ocean is in everybody’s back yard! The narrow path in the Funafuti 
suburbs is so narrow, that on some parts, the water comes splashing down on the road pavement itself! “Hey neighbor, wanna do a barbecue and have a dip after work?” Now that’s a sweet neighborhood!
What’s even more interesting is that I could basically walk to the other parts of the island on foot during low tide! I can imagine that everybody feels as if they are about to sink, or that they are living on a boat, but that’s still living. In my humble opinion, that little dot on the face of the planet should be a main tourist attraction for anybody who literally wants to leave it all behind and enjoy him/herself, and also help out this small country take care of itself – it surely doesn’t need much to get it humming, as it has already proven. If I ever get a chance, I won’t hesitate to visit this oasis in the middle of the ocean.
Coordinates for Funafuti, Tuvalu: 8°31'29.66"S 179°11'46.98"E
Scribbled on February 20th, 2009
Recently I had the privilege to visit a “friend of a friend of a friend” in order to sort out his local home network. His name will remain undisclosed, and I can shamefully admit that I don’t even remember it, so I will refer to him as “HE” or “Big Kahuna” 
Moving on… As with every networking problem, small talk is compulsory, but this guy talked BIG, and I mean really big. If I may quote - “Sure will be glad to get this fixed. Every time my network acts up, I lose about 400$ daily.” It really was strange for someone to be revealing his daily earnings in a country with an average monthly salary of 200-400$, but I just kept on moving my head in an up-down acknowledging motion, confirming his claims and letting him have his daily shot of satisfaction, since he obviously liked the idea of being a rich yuppie.
Soon after, boredom kicked in and he quickly tried to sell me 5$ VoIP prepaid cards while I was meddling with his cabling. As a pathetic pleasant person I am, I mumbled quietly that I don’t have a need for VoIP services although I proceeded to give praise to his prepaid card distribution business, calling it “innovative” and “it’s what people want, compared to the current high long distance prices” just to get him off my back, and completely ignoring the fact that a “400$ per day big kahuna” just tried to sell me a 5$ product.
As I was finishing up with all the cables, I sat down with his 300$ laptop to configure everything (trust me, I know it’s value). As if I wasn’t surprised already, the keyboard did not work. Noticing that, mr. Big Shot quickly pulled up an already connected USB keyboard for me to type on, while claiming boldly that he accidentally spilled coffee on his laptop keyboard and was unable to fix it. (ugh) By the way, here is the keyboard I was using, the keys had to be literally stomped on to work properly.
Finally, everything was done. His home network started working properly, and he was online again. Before uttering anything related to “thanks” or “how much?”, he quickly sat down and said “There’s something I quickly have to do, I’ll be with you in a moment.” From the other end of the room, my fairly decent vision came into play… I saw him opening several Wordpress and Blogger blogs, scrolling down to the comments section and pasting 3-5 links with a message below - “Hi! I saw your website, and I thought you would be interested in some of my links too!”… He carefully entered some required captcha information, and pushed “Submit”.
Now that I knew he was a die-hard spammer, I asked innocently - “What do you do for a living?”… “Advertising and promotion” – he replied fairly quickly. “Here, here’s my card!”, he said with a retarded grin, and invited me to a promotion of a new DVD in a local town hall (that is usually rented for low-grade book promotions and cult gatherings).
Needless to say, he never saw me again.
So, what do I know about one spammer that may have even visited my own blog? Not much, except that he has a family, that he “earns 400$ per day” and still lives in his mother’s apartment with his wife and kid, and that he is an annoying, cheating, lying, conning bastard with no values whatsoever. That should cover it. Good riddance.
Scribbled on January 25th, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve visited a few HTML/flash template stores online… Since I’m obviously posting this, that means I just did. Why? Just plain curiosity. The routine is pretty straight and dull - just browsing through the usual items and thinking about people who buy these things. If it’s not “uniquely” bought (means that as soon as it is purchased, for a 10x bigger price than usual, it is removed from the store, leaving the customer as the only remaining owner of the said template, thus actually owning an original design), then it’s not worth it. Being a serious online business while having a design that somebody else already has does not emit a very professional image, but clearly the numbers say otherwise.
Now, here’s the thing… I found a massive bunch of flash/html/switch/whatever templates available with the following theme: *wait for it* – WEB DESIGN and DESIGN STUDIO!
Um… Oh… Why?! I have to mention that the purchase rates for these are even bigger than other categories! Why the heck would a web design studio, who’s business is *duh* – web design, purchase a template like that? It’s the same comparison to a sugar factory buying sugar! (and we all know how often that happens)
There is one reason I could quickly whip up in my head… Fraud. The other one is a bunch of kids playing a pretend game of “web developer”. The third one (after some thinking) is overhauling the overall design and removing it’s “web design” aspect (but I personally think that’s a rare case).
Still, my advice for anybody seeking web design services is to check out the web designer’s portfolio (not the main website itself) thoroughly before making a decision, as the numbers clearly state that more and more “studios” are trying to look professional, even though their services are awful, or non existent. Be very careful, or end up loosing your money and using MSPaint and Word for creating your online presentation.
Scribbled on January 18th, 2009
After almost a full year of using this personal project as a neat TeamSpeak addon, I decided it was about time to tidy it up a bit and release it into the world.
TeamSpeak Extra is an add-on written in Borland/CodeGear Delphi for the purpose of expanding the scope of features that TeamSpeak already has. It does that in a way that improves productivity and eliminates the needless hassle for frequent TeamSpeak users, and Administrators as well (such as myself) when public behavior needs to be moderated.
If anybody is interested, head on to ts.burex.net and grab a copy.
Scribbled on January 12th, 2009
It seems like yesterday when I was staring at some weird Alpha Longhorn XP-lookalike 
screenshots before Vista shipped, and now I'm trying out Windows 7, Microsoft's newest OS that was supposed to be called Blackcomb. Time does fly, especially in the IT world.
Before I write a few lines of my own, I would like to write some about other people's piece of minds. The first comments I heard about Windows 7 were about it being way better than Windows Vista. Fair enough, but the overall look and the low-end system base are practically the same as Vista's, only slightly modified. Why all the love all of a sudden? Once again, this behavior attributes to the typical SP1 or Windows 1.2 craze that mandates that no Microsoft product is perfect before the first service pack or the next minor version is released. I would like to quote Paul Thurrot on this one (interpreted, since I heard this on his podcast):
Windows 7 is basically Vista 1.3, and I don't know what's all this about the sudden change of heart.
Now, even though Windows 7 is just a simple upgrade, it does boast some very neat features that I really dig. Native biometric device support, better Bluetooth support, the new taskbar (although it can be improved), taskbar context menus, ribbon interfaces, 
better connectivity, UAC that actually does it's job without nagging (hell yeah, finally!), faster boot times, Libraries, new and redesigned control panel items, better theme support, automated wallpaper shuffling, Windows Action Center, better gaming integration, Aero Peek, more intuitive device managing through "Devices And Printers", Gadgets that don't need to be placed on a sidebar, recovery disk support (finally...), improved Paint , new Windows Media Center, automated window maximizing/resizing, and etc. etc. There's really much more than this list, but these are the first ones that caught my eye. One more thing though... Windows Explorer is WAY more fast and MUCH more responsive! I haven't experienced any lagging or lockups at all, it's just that good! Kudos, Microsoft!
What I do hate about Windows 7 is fortunately small enough to fit on a list... The OOBE
(out of the box) experience is still very yucky (seriously, if someone cashes out >200$ for a version of Windows, you'd better give them a more friendlier welcome than the dull and boring Welcome Center!), there are still some Control Panel applets that open in separate window dialogs (WHY!?), the taskbar can't be set to always allow grouping and display window titles at the same time (again... why!?), and I still think that Aero is not used enough for graphic effects that could enhance the overall user experience (no, I'm not talking about the retarded Compiz Fusion Linux youtube videos where windows randomly stretch and fly around, but the usual stuff - non agressive, yet pleasant, user friendly and non time consuming animations). No crashes or problems so far, so the list ends here. Sure, further improvements could find their spot in this new version, but like I (and many more others) have already said, this is Windows Vista 1.3.
If you want to see some screenshots of Windows 7, take a peek in my gallery.
Also, if you want to try this baby out yourself, here are the download links and links where you can get your very own Windows 7 beta key:
32bit Windows 7 ISO
64bit Windows 7 ISO
Windows 7 beta 1 download page (scroll down, and select your version and language)
DON'T just click on the first two links, since you'll most probably get an error! Google Chrome reported that "the file is too big" when trying to access the first two URLs... in a hidden message! (what the hell?) Anyway, just paste the URL in your favorite download manager, such as FlashGet, and off you go!
Scribbled on January 1st, 2009
Well, now that you only have 2 years left to live, I would like to grasp this rare opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year! Just think of all the things that can kill you in 2009.! If you are still getting ideas that you will survive, there’s always the global financial crisis that will make you sell your internal organs for bandwidth, or that 5 eyed monster hiding in your closet (you know the one I’m talking about)…
Enough emo thougts… Enjoy your alcoholic beverages and leftover Christmas candy before the holidays come to an end, I know I will!
Previous Posts
While most other cities and suburbs around the world decided to switch off their lights for the purpose of participating in the 2009 Earth Hour, my very own city of Subotica did squat to show that they actually care, even though the city council specifically announced and confirmed there would be a 1hr dark-out on all major city monuments, and anywhere else if possible. Well, that’s a load of bullshit since I can see some major monuments from my window, and even at 21h (earth hour starts at 20:30) the whole city was lit up as always… nobody gave a damn… not to mention the residents, they are probably more informed about the weekly nominations inside the BigBrother house than about Earth Hour…
