Archive for the 'Uncategorized' category

Link love

Those are the best links found recently:

• 9 free antivirus programs for Windows
• Manipulate Vector Images with Open Source Inkscape (via Lifehacker)

Most-read articles

The news as you make it by your cumulated visits:

• Download free Nero 8
• Sharks and other sea jaws
• Art Nouveau Design

Most visited categories

Your attention does not stop to 1 post only:

• Gorilla in Wildlife (digital photography) – 2009 is the International Year of the Gorilla.
• Optical illusions

…up to the point of creating a chocolate-inspired video?

…or up to the point of sacrificing chocolate for the sake of pure art?

No fish for 1st of April!
These are bunnies.

Today is March 14 or 3-14. It’s time to spend time checking my special page with one million digits for PI.

Looking into the search terms used by people on the Roumazeilles.net, I had some fun recently. Let’s quickly browse some of the most representative surprising ones:

• chasseur francais poussiere reflex (in English: French hunter SLR dust): I did not have in mind that we had so many readers interested in photo hunting in the most basic technological meaning: hunting the dust on the SLR sensor;
• nero burner 8 dovnlod free: I am surprised this reached any target with such a typo;
• appareil photo nicon 8 mega: Some people are unsure about the name of famous photo brands (Nikon or Nicon?)
• microsoft office for mac for free illegal: This one really is looking for the illegal version of MS-Word. Not even thinking a minute about getting it free legally
• w.w.w.roumazeilles.net.: so many dots!
• rechercher thepiratebay.org (in English: Search for thepiratebay.org): This guy is looking for one great web site. He has the exact address and is directed onto my web site. I would advise him never to press the “I’m feeling lucky!” button of Google search…

We knew that Ryan Air was an Irish airline able to bring air fares to a very low level. They use all tricks at their disposition to spend as little money as possible. But sometimes they go too far and their latest ideas give a bad press to the whole low-cost airline industry which were merely having you pay for your lunch in the plane (and, after all, why not pay your own soda like in any convenient pub on the ground?) Here are some of their latest brillant proposals (sometimes already in place):

• They tried to tell that there should be no valuables (sunglasses in the trial case) in the checked-in luggage. A judge corrected this.
• It appears that on several trips, buying a round-trip is more expensive that buying two one-way tickets. Always check!
• Ryan Air want to fine passengers caught with a hand luggage over the weight limit (checked-in luggage has to be paid for).
• Ryan Air proposes to charge passengers to use the in-plane toilets. Your flight would better be on-time if you don’t have small change, or will they accept credit cards…

News reaches a British sub and a French sub regardnig the satellite collision last week.

UserFriendly.org

*Snort* American and Russian dorks.

I nearly rolled on the floor laughing with this one. But, generally speaking, UserFriendly.org is one hell of a good comics web site.

Thanks to European Community! It just proposed, no! Announced that they would force the mobile phone manufacturers to all use a single type of battery charger.

It’s been years that we all accumulated chargers ready to be abandonned because none is compatible with more than one phone. The EC decided to reduce pollution linked this electronic waste. A European regulation nobody will ever regret!

The universal charger will have to use the micro-USB interface already found on some existing chargers here and there. It will deliver 5V output in a maximum of 2.5 watts.

When will it be compulsory for photo cameras, PDAs?

The GSM Association (no less than 17 phone manufacturers) is setting up plans for an accepted 2012 target.

We don’t use this in France (storms are enough to bring a forest to the ground) but here is the real hardware you need to cut down a forest in a few days only:

Image NASA

Is it the crisis, the recession or what? People would like you to think that you can now get a private jet for nearly nothing.

• Jumpjet is trying to make it more affordable than many business trip tickets
• Aviation told us about microjets, like those from Eclipse Aviation intended to make it more affordable than any time before.
• Lunajets wants you to fly like a Very Rich Person (VRP is so much better than VIP) but for prices between €990 per seat and €12,500 for a full cabin. You get to search for the best flight for you.
• Same thing with Last Minute Jet Charters which offers a good search engine for your private jet.
• ElleJet Aviation Services is explictly selling seats available on what they call “empty legs” (trips returning the plane with no passenger, but where you could be booked; A little like those young student who cross the USA in rental cars that they bring back to base for a small fee).

Sure, GM sold all its 5 private jets after the December news fiasco. But did they depress the private jet market, too? Is it really so cheap?

It seems that there will be plenty of people to be present during the inauguration of Barrack Obama. Needless to say, most people will not even have a hint about what happens on stage, if they are located as suggested in the following map:

Kudos to Tom Toles.

Dogs, like many other pets, are subject to much interest and present a lot of particular behaviours that can be formed by proper training. So, today, I want you to meet two of my Internet friends of very different behaviours:

• The dog who could not stop having fun with snow
• the product of the most sophisticated pet training: The perfectly obedient dog

Both in video.

Even more when you unload a tank rail car. If you let the hot gazes cool down into the tank, here what can happen. Always check the security valves, or be ready to pay the price: $22,000 to $80,000 used (but usable).

I want to be sure that 2009 will be a great year, on the web or elsewhere.

Bonne année 2009

For sure, YouTube has always been crouded with rip-offs of the Monty Python sketches. Unfortunately, these were both illegal and -in general- of poor quality. The guys from Monty Python decided that enough is enough, and there is now a Monty Python channel/group on YouTube where you can see excellent quality videos of their Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

This technique is used to demonstrate clearly the operation of a technical product by showing it as if parts were cut away to reveal the internals. This leads to quite a large choice of nice drawings. I collected some of them for your pleasure. They can be gorgeous when the graphic designer is a real artist:

Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera (Beau Daniels & Alan Daniels)

Cut-away dog (Beau Daniels)

American car (David Kimble)

Kodak DCT Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera (Kevin Husley)

Ear cutaway (Medecine net)

General Motors engine

Spitfire Mk I (Century Imaging)

How a theatre is air conditionned (Frank Soltesz, Saturday Evening Post, March 1951)

Great Wall of China (circa 1570)

Noah's Ark (David Deal)

Source: Google

It depends on the cook, but if you have real difficulties with your own cooking style, you may find an excuse. Next time you fail, just say “Oh! I was trying one of jamesoff.net random recipes“. JamesOff is a systems engineer in the South West of England who created a Random Recipe Generator. Merely reload the page to get another recipe.