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Cute little corner on the edge of the planet

bureX — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:09:12 +0000

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

Google Chrome

bureX — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:48:07 +0000

Google has finally launched it's very own browser! This decision was completely unexpected, and carried a lot of doubts with it, and, not to mention - risk... The first ever version of Google Chrome is in it's beta stage, as expected (following the Google tradition), but it works remarkably well. It's fast, simple, and stable. The tabs are placed on the very top of the screen, and that, in my opinion, was a very good feature, since I don't have to "aim" for any of my tabs like in other major browsers, I simply shoot up with my mouse and click what I need to click. Since every tab is a separate process, Windows Task manager is filled up with "chrome.exe" tasks, which is kind of a sloppy solution, but it "works". The whole interface is simple, and gives me plenty of needed space, so any advanced options are well hidden (such as the internal task manager).

What I didn't like at first site is the default 404 page that is included with Chrome, because you have to look at the whole page longer than usual just to realize that it's actually a 404 page (pictured), and not a customized Google home page... Also, some websites don't behave as expected, but that will change eventually (I hope)...

I have just installed this thing, so I have yet to experience a crash, but it's running just fine for the time being. We'll see if this Google product will be comparable to something so successfull such as GMail, or will it die off like GoogleAnswers...

Check out the screenshots in the meanwhile:

The elementals are chasing us, RUN!

bureX — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:05:40 +0000

How's this for genious concept? The usual boredom of running combined with the fun of gaming brings a great way to do your workouts. Although this concept is still in sub-alpha stage, it sounds great, and the requirement to actually get pshysically active in order to win a game is tough, but awesome (and healthy). The Nintendo Wii has already made a huge step by introducing the WiiFit, and it would be nice if the gaming industry would follow this trend.

However, not everybody wants to come home from work (or from a workout) and "relax" by jumping around the living room just to play a game, but a choice between the two should be introduced. Also, I doubt that this will make a strong impact on die hard WoW gamers...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbG5O2NfUzM[/youtube]

Is that a zit? Nah, it’s just another picture

bureX — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:18:48 +0000

Using DeepZoom and Silverlight, Barrack Obama just got his own version of a "Bush mosaic", but without the dead soldiers of course. Many Obama fans and supporters sent their pictures so that a full 1Gigapixel mosaic could be formed (yeah, it's huge - that's 10000x10000 pixels). See it on deepzoomobama.com, but remember that the page requires you to have Microsoft Silverlight installed.

Gee wiz, Billy!

bureX — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:59:29 +0000

It's kind of interesting to see retromercials now and then, but today I found some that were really something! Cereal boxes that look like a half drawn cartoon intro, cars that are freakin' long and scream "women can't drive me", and space food sticks (proof that you can even sell horse**it if you say it's what the astronauts use), yup, it's all there. The very beginnings of using cartoon characters and prize toys for grabbing the attention of youngsters and your typical household women presenting almost products for every "man in the house" in the USA are kind of funny to look at after all these years. But, since the average person in those days thought that everything you see on TV is true, a bunch of propaganda movies were also introduced to schools, such as "Are you popular?" or "Homosexuality - the silent disease" (?) which molded the youth to become what it is today - a hard working and respecful society (yeech... I'm a bad lier).

What really intrigues me is the relative calmness and total blissfull ignorance that cigarette commercials used to employ - it's very weird to see a whole industry get banned from the public today, but that's reality that no one was aware of back then - smoking kills... There's one thing though, I'm pretty sure that most people did not smoke as much as they do now - cigarettes were usually reserved for the end of the workday, or during a coffee break, not for making you lose hair over finding a smoker friendly area because you can't hold on much longer without one.

Nah... 'nuff bitchin'... Just watch:

Alright kids... Settle down, we're gonna watch a movie:

For more stuff like this, clickety on the linkety.