Monday, December 21, 2009

How to map in Windows, a HDD connected to Airport Extreme

After spending some frustrating hours trying to map my hard drive (connected by USB to an Airport Extreme router) in Windows, here is the solution:

Airport Extreme doesn't support NTSF partitions. The disk has to be formatted in FAT32 or HFS.

Hope this helps frustration-fellows as here-below:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/airport-networking-wireless-technology/107084-how-connect-windows-pc-external-hard-drive-via-airport-extreme.html
http://forums.techguy.org/apple-macos/557743-connecting-external-hard-drive-airport.html

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Doi ratati


Base refacut2
Vezi mai multe video din Blog

Cand se intalneste intaiul marinar al tarii cu intaiul postac al tarii, rezultatul este un surogat de interviu, de o calitate demna de lumea a treia.
La aceasta ora ambii se felicita ca au dat lovitura.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Malev steals from luggage ?

I decided to write this post following a sad incident with Malev, the Hungarian national air company, that has never been addressed or follown up by them.
I hope this will be indexed as good as a previous post related to the Hungarian motorway vignette and make enough people aware of what they could get exposed to, when travelling with Malev.

The introduction:

Some two weeks ago, my mother in law took the airplane back to Cluj, via Budapest, after a wonderful week spent with us in Brussels. The Malev offer (about 140€ and five hours from Cluj to Zaventem - return ticket) was very appealing, especially when you know how difficult it is to fly on the route Cluj-Belgium.
She gets to Budapest, she goes for the transfer and while boarding in, she is literally obliged not to take any hand luggage. Not very happy, but, fine... what can she do? In the rush, she forgets to remove the valuables from her hand luggage.
She gets to Cluj and, you guessed, money is missing from the luggage.

Development:

She goes over to the Cluj Airport authorities to fill-in a complaint and there she mets another person in the same situation. The reaction of the airport staff: "No, not on the Malev-Budapest route, again!". It looks like this kind of incident is as common as the flight itself.
In the next days, she follows the story up with the Malev office in Romania while I wrote them an e-mail.
Result: no reaction.

Conclusion:

Despite the very often occurence of theft from luggage on the Malev flights, as described here or here, the company doesn't take any action.
Moreover, they don't reply to customer complaints.
It is of course a frustrating situation, but let's not underestimate the power of information, these days. See Dave Carroll case and the United Breaks Guitars song :).
Now, I wouldn't like to spend my time writting a song or poetry about Malev stealing from luggage, but nobody will keep me from suspecting the involvment of the company in these facts, for as long as not only they don't cover any damage or don't get back to their complaining customers, but they even push people to giving away their hand luggage in a rush, just like in a dirty pick-pocket trick.

Suggestion:

If you were victim of a similar situation, don't hesitate to refer this post on your own blog. This will increase the awarness of internet surfers and hopefully the situation will somehow get fixed, sooner or later.
If you think of taking a Malev flight, think twice. Your end cost for the travel may well end-up being more expensive than any other business class trip.

Good luck!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Cand populismul ne conduce

Ce inseamna populismul?
Dezvoltarea si mentinerea unei imagini pozitive fara un substrat real, din dorinta de a da bine pentru cat mai multa lume, cu scopul de a atrage sustinerea unei majoritati in anumite structuri sociale sau politice (comunitati diverse, partide, primarie, guvern, tara, etc.).

Altfel spus, populistul respinge cu naivitatea idiotului doua principii fundamentale de viata:

1. Pomul se judeca dupa roade (nu dupa flori) iar omul dupa fapte (nu dupa vorbe).
2. Poti minti un om o data, poti minti o mie de oameni o data, de doua ori, de trei ori, dar nu poti minti pe toata lumea la nesfarsit.

Ipoteza de lucru:

Intr-un oras de dimensiuni medii (400.000 locuitori) vin doua firme cu intentia de a construi doua centre comerciale, intr-o parte si in cealalta a orasului, pe langa multe alte centre mai mici sau mai mari, construite sau in curs de constructie.
Prin natura lucrurilor, aceste doua firme sunt in competitie economica, atat intre ele, cat si cu celelalte firme de pe piata.
Proiectele fiind complexe, este nevoie de diverse contracte, avize, permise, etc.
Tot prin natura lucrurilor, este evident ca cele doua firme vor incerca sa-si faca treaba cat mai repede si, accesoriu, sa isi intarzie rivala.

Scenariul 1: Povestea se deruleaza intr-o tara civilizata, un stat de drept, cu traditie democratica. In Europa de Vest, de exemplu.

Vin ambele firme, incep demersurile de achizitie a terenurilor, obtinere de aprobari si avize. Se vorbeste in presa, se descopera eventuale mici nereguli care se rezolva pe cale amiabila sau eventual prin procese rapide in instante. Jurnalistii mentin un discurs decent si echilibrat, pentru ca defaimarea, calomnia si insulta se pedepsesc grav. Autoritatile isi fac datoria si elibereaza doar acele avize pe care legea le permite sa le elibereze, merg din cand in cand la masa cu cei doi investitori, iar in mai putin de doi ani, ambele proiecte sunt finalizate. Primarul se mandreste cetatenilor cu realizarile mandatului sau si este reales.


Scenariul 2: Povestea se deruleaza intr-o tara bananiera, condusa de o dictatura. Africa, America de Sud, Orientul Mijlociu, unele parti din Asia...

Vin ambele firme, dau fiecare cate o spaga unde trebuie si ambele proiecte sunt finalizate in mai putin de un an. Nu tu jurnalisti, nu tu primari, avize sau nereguli.


Scenariul 3: Povestea se deruleaza in Romania, mai precis: la Cluj.

Vin Paszkany si Dascalu si incep munca de prospectare. Vrem sa facem Iulius Mall si Polus Mall. Bun. Ia sa vedem de unde luam terenurile... Aaa, de la primarie si de la Universitatea de Agronomie. Nasol, ambele sunt proprietati ale statului, cu zeci de stapani. Nu-i nimic, demaram procedurile legale de achizitie. Afla presa si incepe sa dezvolte subiecte de scandal, pentru ca la noi defaimarea, calomnia si insulta nu se pedepsesc prea tare, ba mai mult - da bine la popor.
Din gura presei, apare in ecuatie si micutzul Boc. El are sarcina de partid sa adune cat mai multa simpatie, asadar poa sa se intample orice, numai sa nu apara rau in presa. Presa stie asta.
Automat, Dascalu si Paszkany se gandesc ca bah, legea oricum nu pare sa aiba prea multa valoare, o spaga unica si sanatoasa nu putem da ca nu suntem intr-o dictatura, vezi doamne, asa ca hai sa rezolvam lucrurile prin presa. Zis si facut, se obtin avize prin presiuni mediatice, lucraturi underground si mai putin pe baze legale, se mai sponsorizeaza PDL-ul, PSD-ul, PNL-ul, etc. si se gata proiectele in 3 ani.
Nimeni nu iese prea bine. Se dovedeste ca Boc e un demagog si un om de paie care, ghinionul notru, a ajuns si prim ministru. Paszkany este urmarit penal pentru chestii care oriunde altundeva ar fi considerate lobby sau PR, iar pe Iulian Dascalu l-a prins criza mondiala si criza generata de Boc cu toate ouale in acelasi cos - respectiv in imobiliare.

Concluzie: justitia functioneaza greu, presa este fie aservita fie motivata de abordari scandaloase iar politicienii promoveaza populismul.

Ce e de facut, din perspectiva omului de rand? Pana nu demult, ai fi putut spune "Da-i dreacu, n-au decat sa-si faca matrapazlâcurile, oricum eu nu pot face nimic, asa ca mai bine imi vad de treaba". Ei bine, lucrurile se schimba din momentul in care constati ca o duci din ce in ce mai greu si ca matrapazlâcurile respective te afecteaza mult mai tare, mai direct si mai rapid decat te-ai fi asteptat.
Partea pozitiva este ca in momentul de fata, in politica exista un echilibru de forte foarte bine distribuit, astfel incat fiecare vot conteaza.

In consecinta, singurul lucru care ramane de facut este sa judecam oamenii dupa fapte si nu dupa vorbe si sa-i votam pe cei care demonstreaza ca au facut si vor sti sa faca in continuare lucrurile mai bine decat ceilalti.
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Zoso cenzureaza

Zoso a devenit de ceva vreme imaginea micului blogger independent si rebel, citit si adulat de multi naivi, printre care si Emil Hurezeanu, care zice-se ca l-ar fi numit fenomen, in niste circumstante neclare.
Anyways, Hurezeanu l-a mai adulat si promovat si pe Basescu, cu care se judeca acum.
Revenind la subiectul principal, zoso cenzureaza. Pe cei care il critica, pe cei care ii demasca frustarile si mai nou, pe cei care emit opinii contrare anumitor articole ale lui, cu tenta politica cel putin dubioasa si mirosind a campanii mascate de formare de opinii.

Mai jos, un exemplu de articol in care 7 comentarii din 14 sunt cenzurate, putem fi siguri ca nu pe motive de limbaj vulgar, pe care autorul nu ezita sa il foloseasca in orice ocazie.





Pana aici, nimic nou in peisajul socio-cultural romanesc, face fiecare ce poate si cum poate, insa in momentul in care un astfel de personaj cu un oarecare talent scriitoricesc innascut si ale carui expuneri sunt urmarite de zeci sau sute de mii de tineri permeabili la idei mai mult sau mai putin bine intentionate, la idei provenind din interese mai mult sau mai putin politice sau economice, e bine sa se stie un lucru:

Zoso nu este ceea ce ar vrea sa fie. Zoso nu este independent, zoso nu este un curajos, zoso nu este nici creativ nici inteligent.
Zoso este exact ceea ce pare: un tip cu anumite frustrari care se agraveaza pe zi ce trece, un tip care mai scrie si la comanda, un tip care nu are curajul sa spuna cuiva in fata ceea ce spune pe blog, un tip total lipsit de creativitate la un nivel care sa depaseasca nivelul OTV, un tip de inteligenta omului care se complace in a aborda mereu aceleasi si aceleasi subiecte care in esenta se rezuma la un singur lucru: "toti sunt prosti, eu sunt destept".

Referinte:

Zoso si-a luat viteza
Zoso sucks
The blogfather cenzureaza

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Abramburica


Din punctul de vedere al lui Google, noua Abramburicã, desi mai uzatã, a detronat-o pe vechea Abramburicã, spre disperarea multora.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

World War III - the battle for the Universal Currency - part 1

Here is a definition by Wikipedia about what World War 3 could mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_III

As expected, everybody thinks World War 3 is about a devastating (nuclear) conflict at global scale.
On my opinion this is far from even being likely to happen in the current geo-political and social context.

One should not forget that the triggers for World War 1 & 2 were well defined ambitions of a few political regimes to dominate geographical areas through territorial expansion, combined with the weakness of certain political systems, on the edge of collapse (austro-hungarian and tsarist empire).

The situation nowadays has totally changed. Political control over new territories is a bad business case, as it brings more hassle than benefits. Only think of the American occupation of Iraq. It has actually always been the case, but in the past there were less ways to get benefits from a certain region, unless your armies were occupying it.
Nowadays, the fast moving merchandise and information (in other terms: globalization) makes it possible to control and benefit from "occupied" nations or territories by far more subtle means, such as: strategic technology, strong currency, strategic resources, etc.

Since strategic resources are mostly related to the control of geographical areas and strategic technology can be very volatile in times when anyone could virtually research and develop anything, the last big battle is about a Universal Currency.

We won't go any further in this first part, unless with the recommendation for a few relevant articles, to further understand the matter:

Definition and history of a Currency by Wikipedia
The petrocurrency
Petrodollar warfare
Dollar hegemony
US dollar hegemony has got to go - by Henry C K Liu

a few readings that will help understand the considerations in part 2 of this post, yet to come...
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