adriantc

I'm looking forward to seeing some results from Curiosity... I know this is supposed to be a long term mission, but it wouldn't hurt (specially considering their budget depends on it) that they get some result before the end of the mission. And I mean some other results then some HD photos (wonder why not some HD videos... I know it's a problem of bandwidth, but still it's the 21st century). If you ask me they should have started drilling the first second they reached the Martian soil.It's sad to see that space exploration is not a priority since the Cold War. So much money is spent on military research (just the other day I was reviewing the huge amount of money the US military gets every year), so little for space exploration. Really really sad... Even if only a fraction of the military budget, not to say all of it would be spent of anything else then killing weapon, maybe on research... it would be so much better. Remember that back in the '60 they had plans for a permanent human colony on the Moon until the turn of the century. Of course once the USSR couldn't keep up there was no need to make more investments. Just imagine where mankind would be today if space exploration would still have the priority it had during the Cold War.Anyway returning to Curiosity - I hope it will find some traces of life. I would really be a game changer for everything, a truly historic event - making landing on the Moon a walk in the park. I would be proud to have lived such a moment in human history. It may also prove to be a nail in the coffin of almost all religions... maybe we will finally understand how small we are in the grand scheme of things. It will be an event that unites us... And it may show us what great things await us out there. The public, and I think that is one of the things NASA should worry about, must be the prime target of any mission. Once they discover something interested they should release it to the public. Looking forward to that press conference that would change everything...

When they started with the xS versions of the phone everybody said that they release this small updates (with no major features) because people have 2 year contracts and they buy a new phone when those contracts finish, so to hook new customers they release they intermediary phones (like iPhone 4S between 4 and 5). Now it seems it has become a general rule. Maybe that's why we don't see any jump from a generation to another. They just have to keep people hooked...Of course there is also some truth in the assumption that most useful things have been discovered by now. It's just like with the touch-screens. They have reached a limit with the old fashioned keyboard so they had to find a brand new technology. There is so much improvement to be done on a technology/device before you have to replace it all together.Bottom line: Way too much resources (both financial and men-hours) are invested in all kinds of technologies that while are very popular don't bring added value. I've read the other days about a new eye implant that offers sight to a certain part of the blind people. It's black and white and only shadows, but it's a great improvement. Of course I doubt that people would camp 2 days in front of a store to buy an implant... maybe if it starts with an 'i' in the name...

Yes... I have indeed received the credit. It does seem to be somewhat random. I know it took time from back when I was active, but back then it used to credit it at a regular interval. (or at least it seemed that way).Now let's see if the posts count goes up once I post this reply...Thank you for your help.EDIT: Still the posts not counted (599 before and after this post and same before yesterday's credit update).EDIT 2: Something is really fishy... Made another post in a different topic and it jumped as expected to 600.

Hello,I have made 2 posts yesterday and today, but I haven't received any credits to them. Do you know about any bug concerning this? Do I have to wait more?EDIT: I have also noticed it doesn't count my posts.Thank you,Adrian

It's been almost a week since Apple release the 'new and improved' iPhone 5. As far as I can notice from the specifications only two things have really been changed and one, as far as I am concerned, not for the best. The two things are the CPU (which seems to be a great improvement when it comes to speed and power consumption) and the connector which continues in the long Apple tradition: 'We don't do anything that's standard for the rest of tradition!'. While the rest of the world has adopted (some might think by force of the UE law) microUSB as the standard interference port, Apple seem to have gone again against the tide and unveiled a different port. Of course that can only mean trouble when you have multiple phones or you don't like adaptors (which of course Apple generously sells with a huge margin of profit... asking 29$ for a piece of cable is a crime ) Oh... I forgot about the headphone change. That could also be marked as an improvement although I didn't consider the old ones so rubbish.Anyway as I see it Apple is becoming lazy with it's success. For a few generations now the iPhone hasn't brought anything new to the scene. Above all I think innovation is what brought Apple's success and now while I still see that with every new release people stay 2-3 days camped in front of Apple Stores all over the world the real innovation is no more. I think Apple is now a car that has gone uphill by the power not of oil, but of innovation and once that has run dry going downhill is just a matter of time.Just as a side note (for fairness)... I'm not an Apple fan or user - so keep that in mind when reading the above lines.So what do you think about the new iPhone?

Hello,Offtopic: As this is my first post after a long time (I've gone offline a few years) I have to say I'm suprised to see that what was once Xisto has changed so much while keeping some of the good old stuff. One last thing... It sure is good to be back!Ontopic: All this time I have been busy developing some open-source software in my free time. They are hosted on Sourceforge, but the webupdate feature my software has a requirement that Sourceforge cannot provide. My software downloads the install package by a direct file transfer while Sourceforge does a redirect (to choose a mirror from the multitude Sourceforge has).One thing I really like about Sourceforge is their traffic analyzer so I would really like to see what impact the updates have. To be more precise I want to see how many downloads my softwares have (that is update downloads). Since the redirect feature kills my updates I need to host my file on my own website (hence my return to the online world). I have just registered for hosting and a domain.What I would like to ask you is what is the best way to get statistics for file downloads considering I need direct download. For my the best option would be something built in cPanel so I don't need to install 3rd party applications. I don't need anything very fancy, just total downloads, maybe some statistics with the country the downloads come from - basic stuff. So what do you think?Thanks,Adrian

Hello! I have an open source software that has been translated to Turkish some time ago. Now I'm planning to release a new version with small modifications and I can't get in touch with the original translator. Is there a native Turkish speaker willing to translate exactly 4 lines. Help is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much! PS: If you wanna take a look... The software is called Don't Panic!

Back with news. Seems the problem has been fixed by itself... Maybe the fact that the subdomain was changed recently had to do with it... Oh well, just the same. Happy to have my stats back!

Hello!I have a small problem with my cPanel and maybe someone could give me an idea. I've recently changed my subdomain and now when I try to view statistics using Awstats I get the following error message: "There are no domains which have awstats stats to display."What could it be?Thanks!

Hello!Is myCent still down? I've been away for a couple of months and yesterday I've written my first post after this period of inactivity. Until now my cents haven't been updated. Am I missing something?Thanks!

Although I cannot say I have (or had) a weight problem I can give everyone a few tips on how I keep (reasonably) fit. Of course results may very according to your metabolism, but I'm sure that if you follow at least a part of the following tips you will feel and look a lot better.First of all I have to say I don't keep any diet. Mother nature blessed me with a great metabolism that partly explains why I am so thin considering a eat of lot of sweets. And when I say I lot I mean a huge lot . I do try to restrain myself from eating junk food, but I'm very busy during the day and a normal meal is the exception not the rule. But with the exception of sweets, I don't eat a lot.If you have a car and you use it on a daily basis I suggest you forget you have it. Keep your car only for the trips outside the side. For in-city trips use your 2 feet and public transport if it is a big distance. Trust me... walking is a great tool that helps you keep fit without much effort. I would recommend you buy a pedometer (a gadget that counts how many steps you make, distance you travel and calories you've burned... there are even fancier ones - but a simple one is good enough). A pedometer is a great motivator; even more if you are a lazy person (like myself). If you already walk a lot keep in mind you have to make at least 10.000 steps in order to be considered an active person. Another tip... avoid escalators at all cost; avoid them as if your life depended on it. You don't have to hurry, take your time. Believe me... it makes a difference.The second big thing is sport. Any sport is good, but I recommend swimming. You don't have to be a great swimmer, just remember that when you go to the pool you don't do that just for fun. I know it's tempting on a hot summer day to just relax in the pool, but you really have to swim in order to lose weight. It will also help you get better with swimming. But don't over do it... One - two (better two) times a week is great. Enough to make a difference, but not enought to make you terribly tired. Swimming will make miracles when it comes to your weight.I hope all this tips will help you lose weight and then keep fit. Please feel free to return with questions or feedback!

Hello!This is a very good plan for me... I've recently gone offline and although I expect to do a comeback I would like a cheaper hosting plan (although Logic is extremely cheap). So I wanna ask OpaQue if it is possible to switch my current Logic plan to the Decade one?Thank you!

First of all you can't blame the Internet for the advert (or increase) of piracy. Thanks to piracy and porn the Internet is where it is today... Without them we'd all still have 56kb dial-up connections. And porn is also responsible for the boom of the movie industry. You can't possibly think that 99% of all the data sent thru the Internet is Wikipedia and emails. Yeah the Internet provided a much easier way to share everything, but that made the Internet more attractive and faster and on the long run that generates a lot more money then what damage piracy makes. I am a software developer with a few small open source software. I think your theory is not correct... I think the prices of software today also take in consideration the piracy... If they think they will loose 2 copies every one sold they will add the price (or at least a part of it) of the 2 pirated to the one sold. Also I don't think heavily lowered prices with exterminate piracy. Nothing can do that except making all software open source. And that will never happen. Whatever you do, you can never beat free (which piracy provides) software. What can be done in my opinion is change the habits of people. Donations would change if not eliminate piracy. If developers of open source software receive money on a daily basis it would encourage others to develop software... free software supported by donation. That is the only way to eliminate people. Users should realize that they don't have to pay for software, but they have to show support for a project and future development. That should be the way of the future. But it's very hard to change people's habits!

One of the easiest programming languages, yet still very powerful is the good old Pascal - with it's new reincarnation Object Pascal. In my opinion it is just as powerful as C (granted it hasn't got the same versatility) even though some things you can do in a few lines in C you can do in Pascal in a few more lines. But it's closer to the normal language then any other. And in some cases it's just as fast, if not faster, then C. (I probably will get a spanking from all the C programmers out there! ) But when you think about bringing programming languages to the spoken language you have to remember 3 thinks: 1. There is a huge penalty in speed (and I do mean huge). Assembler, the closest thing to the computer's machine code is the fastest of them all. Although it's very very very far from the spoken language it offers the best possible speed... It's so fast compared to any other language that it's even recommended to integrate it in software where exhaustive calculations are done - so that the speed difference really becomes noticeable. In fact programming languages are split in 2: low-level programming languages and high-level programming languages. In the first there is Assembler (and others) and in the second is all others - C, C++, Java, (Object) Pascal, etc. I guess you could say that the farther you are from the spoken language and closest you are to the computer's machine code the fastest the language is. 2. Typing speed. Making a programming language resemble spoken code means you'll have to type extremely long sentences in some cases. And that's not a good thing when you are in hurry of making a deadline and putting food on the table for your family. 3. Programming shouldn't be for the masses. (I mean useful programming). It's like hitting yourself in the head with a stone. While you design a programming language (and that's done usually done in another) your killing your own job by bringing everyone to the table. While there should be a very easy language for letting students discover the wonderful world of programming, it's just not good for the community to have a very easy and very powerful programming language (that's not even possible because of point 1). I have to remind of Pascal... I've learned Pascal a school (even though it's long gone from the mainstream of programming languages) and I can tell you it's very good to students (it's pretty easy, yet not easy enough to make the transition to a new programming language extremely hard).

From that point of view, if everything goes to hell at least there will be no more expensive dinners and fancy jets for anyone... I guess you can find a positive side even for an economic doomsday scenario. Their billions over billions will equal 0... just worthless pieces of paper or digits on a computer. One "great" thing about today's currency is that it's backed up by exactly nothing. One day you can be a billionaire and the next starve to death. The real problem with world economies is that they are too well connected... It's enough for something to go terribly wrong in some remote corner of the world and hell will break loose. Just like a domino falling it will trigger another and then another until all of them have fallen. It may start with a smaller country (like Greece) and propagate to bigger one and so on. No matter how mighty they are (US, Germany or China) they can't live on their own. Not only they are dependent on one another for imports and exports, but they borrow from one another so if one falls and can't pay their dept it will be September 2008 all over again... this time on a governmental scale; and, of course, with no one to bail them out the result will be catastrophic. All those bails may have been good on the short term, but there is no way this could be a permanent solution... Governments can't keep throwing money in the economy just to keep it alive. It's like keeping a patient alive with the help of machines. You know the body has problems, but you refuse to acknowledge that and treat it properly, and you just satisfy to patch things up and hope for the best. One day the house will come crushing down on our heads. I may sound like Nero here watching Rome burn to the ground, but I guess it's gonna be a hell of a day when something like that happens. I guess then we will all have to reconsider what we've based out life upon. PS: I have recently seen a very provocative documentary called "Collapse" (click HERE for the IMDB link). If any of you have a free hour and a half I don't think you will regret watching it. It gave me goosebumps! Feel free to discuss what you think...

I've been inactive for some time on Xisto and as I made my way back (hopefully in force ) I noticed the Politics part of the forum... and to my surprise no one is rushing to open topics and write ideas. If you ask me this should be one of the highlights of this forum, but I guess that just me.So why open a topic? If someone where to check all my posts from the very one they would have noticed that from the very first I've been quite grim where it comes to the future. In some way I even predicted this crisis... not the causes, but part of the end result (at least to this day). Since this crisis began governments keep bailing out different banks and corporations in order to keep jobs and the economies from collapsing. There seems to be some rebound in the US economy, but I always feared that the first crises was only the beginning and economies are growing just because governments keep throwing money in them.Now it seems more cracks start to appear... in Europe this time. Recently a few countries from the Euro zone are having big problems with their economies because (mainly) they bailed more then their budget could permit. They are called PIIGS (from Portugal, Italy, Irland, Greece and Spain). The real problem is that since all of them are in the Euro zone (have the Euro as their currency) their collapse would bring down the whole Euro zone. Not to mention that there are a lot of people trying to take advantage of this weakness and while doing that they are making the problem bigger. From the PIIGS countries the biggest problems are with Greece (at the moment). The importance of those countries is underlined by the fact that the next step is bailing out a whole country... Greece. And it may not be the last.But as governments bail corporations and then the governments themselves need bailout that begs the question... Who is going to bail the last one. Is this a snowball effect in motion? I want to get your opinion on this subject... What do you think it happen?

I can speak as an open source software developer (not a very big one) and as a student (important fact when it comes to money ) I don't think there are so much software developers (at least in my country - Romania) - there are a lot more lawyers then software developers! And even if the are lots and lots of software developers it's only normal. As more and more people use computers it's a huge demand for software - and not only software but constantly developed software! Just imagine the gadgets that are everywhere now. All of them need software - huge amounts of software! I only have to think a week into the past and I get Apple's IPad. Everybody has some kind of a need for a piece of software. Apple's market place is an obvious example. Demand and offer! But of course there are also a lot of offline projects... Those software never intended for release... let's say custom software - made specially for a companies needs! Not everything the software developers do get on the Internet. So it's normal there is a huge need for software developers. Not to mention the fact that once a software is completed the buyer will also want updates, modifications & support. As for the open source - you have a point... or at least some part of it... I for one haven't received any money from it (although my software is used by people). It's hard for me to imagine living out of it. But the problem is not with the open source (free) concept, but with the mentality of users. People (users) must learn that by donating (giving money the developers) are not only helping the project continue, but also show their appreciation for the work done. That being said I have to tell you I am very happy when I get a positive review on one of my programs. The fact that somebody finds my little piece of software useful makes me happy... just as happy as getting money! That's my reward! And although I haven't received any donations I continue to develop my programs and start new ones. Open source is a great idea - not only that, but it's a piece of a better world... Making something while not expecting anything in return. Isn't that a worthwhile idea?

Yes... all 3 are GPL (now v3) (with the exception that one has some libraries that I haven't made public)... they are not something I could offer support for. They are not something huge, but they enjoy some success and I would like to see that people appreciate my software and I get even 1$... It tells me it is a job well done and that my effort is appreciated! Here are my 3 open-source projects: https://sourceforge.net/projects/enigmacs/ (mature project, considered abandoned) https://sourceforge.net/projects/dont-panic/ (mature project... still releasing updates) https://sourceforge.net/projects/tcpipmanager/ (very new... barely released... many updates expected) I don't consider selling them (making them paid software) an option. I would rather get 0$ then making them paid.

Hello!I am a software developer and a student at the same time. I know the value of money so I decided a few years ago that most of the software I'll will be free (not only free, but open-source too). But I also would like to make some money for everyday expenses so I would like to know if anyone (specially developers like) have been able to make money out of free software. I'm not planning to make them shareware, but a few $ a month wouldn't be bad. I know it won't make me reach, but some kind of reward for my work would be nice.I already tried with donation, but it doesn't really have an effect... 4 months - no donation. I don't have any huge software - I have 3 programs (utilities), 2 of which I am still updating which have up to one hundred downloads a day (counting only those made from my server - not from third party mirrors). I know it's not much, but it's something.Anyway in my situation managed to solve this problem out?Thanks!PS: This is my first post after some period of inactivity on Xisto. It's good to finally be back!PS2: Happy new year everybody!

I don't thing getting fined for no healthcare is a good thing, but the reform (called overhaul in the US) of the health system is a much needed thing. America is on a sitting bomb. A bomb based on national debt and with a trigger called healthcare and social security. It's going to be 12 trillion (over 80% of the GDP). And according to Obama's plan it's going to get even worse (100% of the GDP by 2014). Why is healthcare and social security a problem? Because now there are a lot more people working and paying contributions rather then people receiving contributions. That is because last 20-30 years there was a baby boom in the USA. But some day in the future all those paying will become people who need to receive (pensions and healthcare because they are old). So where now is + billions a year will be - billions a year. It's going to be a huge problem... It's gonna make this crisis look like children's play. Not to mention secondary effects like borrowing vast amounts of money from China which translates into getting America dependent and under the control of China. So a healthcare overhaul is a very needed thing for the US. It may sound bad, but the americans just get too much healthcare, social security, investments and other with paying way too small taxes. And this situation creates mountains of debt. Healthcare should be just the first step. In my opinion this crisis has marked the end of the wild capitalism some envisioned. All the social benefits must now be adapted to the situation. You may not like it, but healthcare is a must. PS: Watch I.O.U.S.A. if you want to understand the inner workings of this failing system!

I don't find that so worrying... And before you jump on me there is a but... Any intrusion intro private life is not really an intrusion - that depends in who does the watching and how the information is used. As long as the ones watching don't watch the CCTV as a reality show and no information is leaked - like "Big Brother" - it isn't a problem. The information discovered that way must only be used to do good - in this case to help families with problems. This way it's not really 1984...It's not a 1984 scenario anyway. We are in the digital era - we have less and less privacy. It's a trade off; we have more comforts - easy banking, easy payment systems, vast (unimaginable just 50 years ago) information at our fingertips. You can't have all that and expect to keep the same level of privacy as 100 years ago. Not to mention that compared to a 100 years ago we are a lot more people on the planet. That means less space for any of us. And in some ways that is better. Less secrets means people are far more open to each other, with differences going away. Lying and cheating would be a thing of the past. I know for some of you that must sound terrible, but in the long run its a good thing.I know in the UK people are very conservative and care very deeply about their civil liberties, but they don't have the experience of the communist regime first hand (only from the capitalist propaganda.... yes they also do propaganda). It's not the fact that somebody is watching you, but the fact that the one watching you does so to hear what you say and to not say anything bad about the government. The spying is not the real issue, but what they use the spying for. As long as it is to do good there is no problem whatsoever. And as long as I am just a figure on a TV screen like countless others I really don't care. And if somebody where to watch me he would really have a hard time not getting bored and going to sleep. He must really not have a life to watch me 24 hours a day.

Hello everybody! I have a small open source software that has almoust reached the 4th version. It's called Don't Panic! ... here is a more description: If you want more details or just want to download it you can do so using the SourceForge.net LINK. Along with some other improvements like new features and bug fixes I want to translate the software to as many languages as possible. I have already set up a system that makes the necessary changes to the UI based on a text file. Until now I have translated the UI to the two languages I know sufficiently well: English and Romanian (my native language). Now I am looking for users willing to translate the small text file to any other languages. Since this is an open source software (aka free) there is no way I can repay you for your help other then a spot in my 'Thank you' window. And of course my gratitude! It would be really great if I could get every translation to be checked by at least another user as two eyes are better then one! I will attach to this post the English translation file. Just replace the english text with whatever language you are translating to. One last thing... Please do keep the punctuation marks where possible and leading and following space... example: " xxx " = " yyy " not "yyy" If you have any other questions I would be more then happy to help you out. Thank you! EDIT: It would also help me if you could test it and submit any bug you may find.

When I first heard the news I couldn't believe it. I had to check it with Yahoo! News just to be sure. Although I am not one of those die-hard fans we have to bow in front of the huge talent he had. Michael Jackson was and will always be the king of pop. He may have had a weird lifestyle, some questionable behavior, but he was a (the most) complete singer. Michael Jackson was the first big star to visit my country after communism fell. He did quite a show. I can't remember it since I was only 4 back then, but after watching it years later.... it looks amazing even today. I can only imagine how the spectators back then must have felt. For a nation which only recently found it's freedom, it must have looked like some kind of a divine experience... something out of SF movie. There may never be another singer to mix singing and dancing so well. And all his songs had such a powerful message... He will be dearly missed.I've read today that they are planning a World Tour to complete Michael's dream to return to stage. It would only be a hologram of Michael Jackson, but I would very much like to see it... It would be a fitting end to what will become a legend.

You shouldn't worry a bit... It seems the WHO likes to panic populations all over the globe with their warning levels and alerts. Just like with the the chicken flu this "disease" is a big dud. There have been below 200 deaths all over the planet in more then a month. A lot more people die daily just from cancer or HIV! A lot more! And the WHO doesn't seem to care very much about that... I don't understand why they like to panic the population in this fashion when it isn't really a deadly virus... I'm sure those who died where weak anyway... small children or old people. I know it is mean to say that, but in a way a deadly disease is bound to appear sooner or later as we are too much on this planet and nature tries to balance things our and I'm afraid when it will appear (read mutate) people won't be so careful as they already seen a lot of false positive viruses.And just in case you think a virus can bring our extinction I should lay that to rest... There is no way a virus can be so deadly as to kill 100% of us. There is bound to be some immune people to carry on our "wonderful" legacy. Even if 99.99% (which is extremely improbable) die, there will still be someone left to rebuild everything. Bottom line is that you shouldn't worry. There is no way this is the virus of doom... It is already disappearing by itself and considering the number of deaths it's not even on top 100. Now go on and enjoy your life!

For years they have been trying to convince us that global warming is just a normal thing the earth is going through. Its just a hell of a coincidence that while we put billions and billions of tons of co2 in the atmosphere the earth is in a really bad mood. :-) And I also guess the countless species we drove to extinction are also part of the normal cycle the earth is going through. The fact that we are such a greedy ape has nothing to do with it. I wonder how our children will remember us ignoring things so obvious. I think this kind of studies are financed by the greedyest of us, the same ones making billions and billions of dollars of our enormous appetite for consumption. And even if the harbingers of doom are not right there is nothing to loose. But there is no way a true scientist could jump over the fact that menkind has only taken things from nature and hasn't put anything back. There is on way the earth is just an endless bag full of treats. Things will eventually catch up with us!