Hazard's stuff

Rammstein's Rosenrot review

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-30 12:42
Using my magical powers I have obtained a copy of Rammstein's "Rosenrot". After hearing their excellent "Benzin" single, I was hoping for an album similar in pace to their first two - "Senshucht" and "Herzeleid". Well, my hopes did not come to life. :(

90% of tracks are similar to the trend they started with "Mutter". And they are not the best of that trend.

Recommended tracks: Benzin (10/10), Mann Gegen Mann (6/10), Spring (8/10), Te Quiero Puta (6/10).

Album rating: 4.5/10.


Rammstein - Rosenrot - Benzin

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-29 22:00
Rammstein has released a clip for "Benzin" from their new album "Rotenrot". I liked it.

Actually, I really liked it. :)


Russian Music Awards

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-29 17:47
÷ÞÅÒÁ ÐÏËÁÚÙ×ÁÌÉ MTV Russian Music Awards. ïÂÝÅÅ ×ÐÅÞÁÔÌÅÎÉÅ Ï ÎÁÛÅÊ ÐÏÐÓÅ ÄÏÓÔÁÔÏÞÎÏ ÕÄÒÕÞÁÀÝÅÅ. ïÄÎÁËÏ ÚÁ ÓÁÍÏ ÛÏÕ ÍÏÖÎÏ ÐÏÓÔÁ×ÉÔØ 4+ - ÖÉ×ÏÊ Ú×ÕË ÎÁ ÎÁÛÅÊ ÜÓÔÒÁÄÅ Ñ×ÌÅÎÉÅ ÒÅÄËÏÅ, Á ÏÂßÑ×ÌÅÎÉÅ ÐÏÂÅÄÉÔÅÌÅÊ ÉÚ ËÏÓÍÏÓÁ ×ÏÏÂÝÅ ÎÅ ÉÍÅÅÔ ÁÎÁÌÏÇÏ× :)

UPDATE: åÓÌÉ ÈÏÔÉÔÅ ÐÒÅÄÓÔÁ×ÉÔØ, ËÁË ÜÔÏ ÂÙÌÏ, ÔÕÔ ÒÏÌÉË Ó ÐÅÓÎÅÊ "ôÒÁ×Á Õ ÄÏÍÁ" × ÉÓÐÏÌÎÅÎÉÉ ÓÔÁÒÉËÏ× úÅÍÌÑÎ É ÐÏÂÅÄÉÔÅÌÅÊ × ÎÏÍÉÎÁÃÉÉ "ÌÕÞÛÁÑ ÒÏË-ÇÒÕÐÐÁ" ú×ÅÒÅÊ, ÚÁÍÅÔÎÏ ÜÔÕ ÐÅÓÎÀ ÏÖÉ×É×ÛÉÈ...

New Car Reliability Report from Consumer Reports

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-29 15:31
Consumer Reports released a new Car Reliability Report. Highlights are:
  • Of the 31 cars that earned top rating, 29 were Japanese. Of these, 15 were from Toyota and its Lexus division and eight were from Honda.
  • Of the 48 cars that earned the lowest rating, 22 carry American nameplates, 20 are European, 4 are from Japan.
  • Some European models, which have had poor reliability in our previous surveys, improved slightly. The six-cylinder BMW X5 and X3, for example, earned average Ratings and are now the first European SUVs reliable enough to be recommended. However, most European models still scored far below average.



Linux file-system ACLs

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-27 02:38
Linux file-system ACLs have been available in Red Hat Enterprise/Fedora for some time. ACLs allow you to have more flexible access control to the filesystem than standard UNIX access semantics (user/group/other). Today, I encountered a case where two groups had to have rwX access to the same directory. A quick search on the 'net revealed the following:

Enable ACLs: edit /etc/fstab and add "acl" option to the filesystem. To activate ACL functionality without rebooting, run mount -o remount [mount point]
Add additional group access to a directory: setfacl -R -m g:[group]:rwX [directory]
Check that ACL is correct:getfacl [directory]

Easy.

Miracles of globalization

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-27 02:26
Off-shore programmers... Off-shore support... Off-shore management?

www.offshoreexecutive.com

And before you think it is a joke, apparently Alan Cox is involved.

Hurricane Wilma

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-24 11:56
Below is a picture of Hurricane Wilma which is about to hit Florida, taken by International Space Station crew:



The Day After Tomorrow

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-24 01:52
Today Nova was broadcasting "The Day After Tomorrow". Though I watched it on TV, I must say that it looked quite good, considering that I saw it in cinema as well. My rating didn't change much with the second viewing.

Most people criticize this movie for being too cliched and illogical; it is indeed full of stereotypes and illogical things on a small scale. On a big scale, it makes sense - basics of human relationship, humanity experiencing a catastrophe due to exploitation of Earth's resources.

The Gulf stream shutting off due to "contamination" by melted freshwater is scientifically sound. It won't happen so fast, and it would mainly affect Iceland, Ireland and UK, but these are small details. ;)

8.5/10. I enjoyed watching it for the second time, and this doesn't happen with many movies.


÷ÁÈ!

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-23 22:59
ñ ÕÂÒÁÌÓÑ × Ë×ÁÒÔÉÒÅ, É ÄÁÖÅ ×ÙÍÙÌ ÏËÎÏ ÎÁ ÂÁÌËÏÎ!


óÁÍ ÂÁÌËÏÎ ÍÙÔØ Ñ ÎÅ ÓÔÁÌ, ×ÓÅ-ÔÁËÉ ÚÉÍÁ ÎÁ ÐÏÄÈÏÄÅ É ÏÐÑÔØ ×ÓÅ ÚÁÐÁÞËÁÅÔÓÑ... ;)

Car Audio

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-23 02:20
Finally I have started to seriously prepare to change my Nissan Pulsar Neo-VVL built-in car acoustics and head-unit. The last part is easy: a few years ago I acquired Empeg Car, a Linux-based MP3 player with 20 GB HDD, but never got to installing it. The difficult part is selection of amplifier and acoustics. And I'm no professional in car audio. So far my selection is as follows:

Amplifier: Clarion APA4320 (review)
Back acoustics: Alpine SPR-694A (review)
Front (door) acoustics: Alpine SPS-171A (review)

Now, apart from reviews, a major role in my selection was the popularity of the brand. Such brands as MB Quart, DLS, Art Sound are not present in Cyprus and I couldn't find them at any online shops. I'm especially concerned with Alpine SPS-171A.

Any suggestions are welcome :)


Turkmenistan - ex-USSR republic

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-21 03:54
"I'm personally against seeing my pictures and statues in the streets - but it's what the people want"
-- Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenbashi, president for life of Turkmenistan since 1991.

From Wikipedia:

Niyazov's face appears on all Manat banknotes and large portraits of the president hang all over the country, especially on major public buildings and avenues. Statues of himself and his mother are scattered all over Turkmenistan, including one in the middle of the Kara Kum desert as well as a gold-plated statue atop Ashgabat's largest building, the Neutrality Arch, that rotates to face the sun. The logo of Turkmen national television is his profile. Institutions that cannot be named after him are named after his mother. All watches and clocks made must bear his portrait printed on the dial-face. The two books he had written are mandatory readings in schools, motorclubs, and homes. They are a central part in education from grade school to university, and knowledge of the text - up to the ability to exactly recite passages from it - is required for passing exams, holding any state job and qualify for a drivers license.

Some of Turkmenbashi's decrees:
  • Banning news readers from wearing make-up as Niyazov had difficulty telling male and female readers apart
  • Banning ballet and opera, describing them as "unnecessary"
  • Banning public smoking in 1997 when Niyazov quit smoking after major heart surgery
  • Banning lip syncing when performing songs
  • Ordering that young people not be permitted to get gold tooth caps or gold teeth, suggesting instead that they chew on bones to preserve their teeth.
  • Closing nearly all public libraries outside the capital
  • Dismissed 15,000 medical workers, replacing them with army conscripts


Impressive huh?

ï "üÌØÂÒÕÓÅ"

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-20 23:12
ïÔÒÁÄÎÏ ÚÎÁÔØ, ÞÔÏ ËÏÍÁÎÄÁ ÌÅÇÅÎÄÁÒÎÏÇÏ âÏÒÉÓÁ âÁÂÁÑÎÁ, ÒÁÚÒÁÂÏÔÞÉËÁ ÏÔÅÞÅÓÔ×ÅÎÎÙÈ ÓÕÐÅÒËÏÍÐØÀÔÅÒÏ× ÓÅÒÉÉ "üÌØÂÒÕÓ", ÎÅ ÔÏÌØËÏ ÖÉ×ÅÔ É ÒÁÚ×É×ÁÅÔÓÑ, ÎÏ É ÎÁËÏÎÅà ÄÏ×ÅÌÁ ÐÒÏÃÅÓÓÏÒ ÏÒÉÇÉÎÁÌØÎÙÊ ÁÒÈÉÔÅËÔÕÒÙ Elbrus E2K ÄÏ ×ÏÐÌÏÝÅÎÉÑ × ÖÅÌÅÚÅ.



Linus says it again :)

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-20 01:30
"
Gaah. I don't tend to bother about slashdot, because quite frankly, the whole _point_ of slashdot is to have this big public wanking session with people getting together and making their own "insightful" comment on any random topic, whether they know anything about it or not.

[ And don't get me wrong - I follow slashdot too, exactly because it's fun to see people argue. I'm not complaining ;]
"
-- Linus Torvalds

Original post

Lada Revolution

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-16 14:53
Lada Revolution has won Horn Grand Prix 2005 in A1600 class. Surprise-surprise.



1600 cc, 165 HP @7400 RPM, 670 kg weight - all yours for only 49000 EUR. ;)

Wise words

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-07 10:35
A "spec" is close to useless. I have _never_ seen a spec that was both big enough to be useful _and_ accurate.

And I have seen _lots_ of total crap work that was based on specs. It's _the_ single worst way to write software, because it by definition means that the software was written to match theory, not reality.


-- Linus Torvalds
(Full post)

N-1 flies!

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-05 03:09
What Soviets couldn't do was done by Americans... a flying N-1 rocket! Though it's a bit smaller :)

Hyperion

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-03 10:32
Cassini pictures Saturn's satellite



þÔÏ-ÔÏ ÄÁ×ÎÏ ÁÐÄÅÊÔÏ× ÎÅÔ...

— Posted by hazard @ 2005-10-03 01:40
ñ ×ÓÅ ÅÝÅ ÖÉ×. :)

îÅ ÓÍÏÔÒÑ ÎÁ ÐÅÒÍÁÎÅÎÔÎÕÀ ÚÁÐÁÒÕ ÎÅ ÒÁÂÏÔÅ, ÓÔÁÒÁÀÓØ ÎÅ ÄÅÇÒÁÄÉÒÏ×ÁÔØ. óÅÊÞÁÓ ÉÚÕÞÁÀ EmbperlObject, Class::DBI ÓÏ ×ÓÑÞÅÓËÉÍÉ ÐÌÁÇÉÎÁÍÉ, Á ÔÁËÖÅ vim (ÐÒÅÄÙÄÕÝÉÅ ÚÎÁÎÉÑ i/dd/:wq ÎÅ ÓÞÉÔÁÀÔÓÑ).