Talk like a pirate day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_like_a_pirate_day
Just in case, like me, your reading this and your a linux user(Ubuntu), here it is something interesting:
Now pass th’ rrrrum, matey!
Ubuntu 9.04!!!
Mr Mark Shuttleworth announces plans for Ubuntu 9.04 codename “Jaunty Jackalope”. More can be read here.
Google Chrome web browser
Google enters the race of web browsers. It’s a shame i can’t use it YET under GNU/Linux, well since it’s source code was released actually i can but it’s still under development for GNU/Linux so it doesn’t seem to be very wise yet.
Already tried it under M$ Windows XP and looks very good, very simple to use and at least as fast as Firefox.
More about what’s under the hood can be read on the website, watch the video, give it a try.
Excellent moove from Google!!!
GNU’s 25th Anniversary
That’s right, this month of September GNU celebrates 25 years of existence, for those who don’t know what it’s about: it’s about software freedom in the computers world, a world in wich you can obtain the source code of all GNU applications and their operating system gNewSense and modify it, make as many copies of it as you like(no serial key or any other system of copy control) with the condition of providing/sharing the modifications to the open source community, please take a look at their website http://www.gnu.org/ for more information, you can watch a very cool presentation by Mr. Stephen Fry as he explains very well what free software is.
Codecs can be found here for Windows users:
Directshow Filters
http://www.xiph.org/
And again Happy Birthday GNU
My Birthday(almost 30!!!)
Yup! That’s right the 9th of Sept was my 29th birthday.
It was a simple day which didn’t started very well: had a nightmare the night before about someone wanting to steal my champagne??!!!(don’t ask i have stupid dreams/nightmares all the time!!!) and i woke up on the morning of the 9th with a huge headache(didn’t drink anything the night before, i swear!!!)
Fortunatly, as it happens around this time of the year, there is always someone wishing you well and Happy Birthday(specially that special person
with whom i couldn’t be with unfortunatlly due to work) and sometimes not planning ahead is the best thing to do, and so without any plans, me and my sister we’re invited to have dinner at a friends house, they had some food to cook and asked us to bring wine and a chocolate cake, it was a very nice evening, they sang the happy birtdays song, it was a surprise as i wasn’t expecting it because they suddenly turn of the lights and held their cigarette lighters on top of the cake as candles, don’t ask there is crazy people everywere(just kidding, it was really funny!!!)
And that was it. Just to make a ref of it, here we bought 2 bottles of a very good portuguese wine named “Cartuxa”, a bit expensive but very much worth the price.
Here are some refs to it’s tradition:
Laser Graffiti
Ahh!!! Techologists never cease to amaze me!!!!
We used to do graffiti with aerosol cans.
Now we can do huge graffiti’s with Laser, here are some cool pics using this marvelous technology.
FreeBSD 7.0 is Out!!!!!
Ok, i know this is a bit outdated(as some of my former posts), but i just wanted to leave a note about the release of another of my favorite Operating System: FreeBSD.
It’s on version 7.0 now and all info about the release and what it’s about can be found on the respective wesite 
. It’s another great release i might ad.
In search for proof of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
The most powerfull atom-smasher ever built will be switched on in August 2008 and, according to some, it could make some bizarre discoveries about some obscure theories to this date. Some are afraid that a black hole will emerge after being switched on, others say if that was a possiblity it wouldn’t of been built in the 1st place. The purpose for which this machine was built has been a subjet that has been for debate for as long as i can remember, will it be that we are closer to discover this elusive dark matter/dark energy and a more solid knowledge of it’s implications on the universe? I guess we are about to find out soon enough!!!!!
Entering in Digital Photographic Cameras Era
It has been a while since i’ve been wanting to buy a more modern Digital Camera but since i don’t want to by some crappy camera, and i’ve been on a low budget because of some bills and other stravaganza, i have been delaying the moment to make such moove…until now. This year i finnaly had the oportunity, and money, to buy a Canon PowerShot SX100IS, it is awesome, much more then i was hopping to buy with 300€, this little gadget is amazing, here are some highlights -> Canon PowerShot SX100IS.
Highlights of 2007 – Again a bit Late
I’ve been trying to sum up all the highlights of my life throughout the year 2007, i ‘ve already mentioned my “graduation”, the release of my favorite Linux distro and that i’ve changed jobs but there were other things happening in my life that i forgot to mention:
High School:
Finishing high school was an interesting experience for someone with my age because i felt it was the right time to do it, i felt more responsible and more aware of what i want to do with my life.
It was great because, apart from the standard stuff that i had to study, ex: Portuguese, Philosophy, Physics and Chemistry, etc, i studied a lot about my true passion: computers.
For 3 years i studied programming: Pascal , Visual Basic and C++ as well as Networking and several applications and operating systems including GNU/Linux.
In the end we had to present a project which was developed throughout the 12th grade using a presentation software (in this case PowerPoint) with a report and all that is required. We had a choice of developing a network infrastructure or doing a project in which we had to develop an application. Me and 4 other guys formed up a group and decided that we were going to develop a web based application, the intent was to provide an application that the school campus would benefit from it with the target of facilitating communications between students, teachers and other school campus personnel, and for that purpose we integrate the following communications protocols: SMS’s, e-mail and IM(Jabber, Jivesoftware), this was done using PHP, Java, XHTML and CSS, the site was running with the help of a WAMP (Windows XP, Apache Webserver, MySQL and PHP integrated application) called EasyPHP. In the end it was finished and it was presented in front of a jury, it was a great experience and i learned a lot, i had a classification of 19 out of 20.
A Great Concert:
2007 was also the year in which i went to see Dream Theater live for the first time. It’s was the “Chaos In Motion – European Summer Tour” which was a follow up to the release of their 9th studio album “Systematic Chaos” which was release on the 5th of June. The event took place in Portugal (of course!!!!!) in a place called “Coliseu do Porto” on the 20th of June 2007, 25,00€ was the price of the ticket and it was worth every cent, since Porto (Oporto) is in the north of Portugal and Lisboa (Lisbon) is in the south, the trip was a 600Km(+/-) adventure back and forth. Unfortunately i don’t remember all the songs that were played nor the correct order they were played but it was a great show and I’m looking forward to see them again, next time, if possible, in Lisboa .
Speaking of Dream Theater, there was also an official biography comprised of two books ( a text base book with a lot of info that i didn’t read of before, a second book with their story exclusively told with photos) and a CD with some remastered, unreleased and differently arranged songs that were release before. The bio is called “Lifting Shadows” and was released around Christmas but it had to be pre-ordered(and pre-paid by the end of the Summer) and it had to had a certain number of “subscribers” so that it could be done the way the band wanted, the coolest thing was that those that made the order until a certain date had the possibility to have their names on the “Roll of Honour” as contributers for a bio that could only be done if it was paid by the fans in advance, of course my name is on page 371 
.
Building Condominium Administration:
This year that has passed was also the year in which i had to take part on the condominium administration, along with 2 other people, which has been passed to others yesterday (don’t ask).
In a nutshell, it was the worst of times as one can imagine but to compensate the last meeting wasn’t so bad as the ones i witness before we were in charge 
.
New Job:
As i mention before i found a new job and i changed departments in November, only now i’m feeling that i’m doing it right (or almost!). I’ve learn a lot about finance and a bit more of it’s inherent logic, at this moment i’m feeling more comfortable doing it but not so much with the people with i’m working with yet, but since i’m a very reserved person, my guess is that eventually things will change in time as it always has been this way.
We had a Christmas party and, as it’s always the company’s policy, because it’s a British company, we had a week to enjoy the holidays which started around Christmas time and the 2nd of Jan, very nice, we don’t get this kind of stuff here in Portugal though we have more holidays!!!!!
DVD Release of a great performer:
It may sound strange but besides my likes of heavy music i enjoy several types of music and there is one artist in particular who released an expected DVD after all this time, that plays a unique type of music: “Music of the World”. Her name is Loreena McKennitt and her website is at Quilan Road, the DVD was recorded in 2006 in a city called Alhambra in Spain.
IEEE Subscription:
To finish up the year i renew my subscription as a student with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc). For those who don’t know what it is you can check it out ,if your a g33k as well of course -> IEEE.
Conclusion:
All in all 2007 was a great year, one can only hope 2008 to be better.
