. . "2005-12-23T01:24:13"^^ . "The Holy Zarquon, the prophet we'll never see..." . "Douglas Adams created, in his famous \"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy\" saga, the image of the Prophet Zarquon, the one whose second coming was scheduled to the end of time, \"when hell freezes over\". The Holy Zarquon appears, in fact, at the end of the Universe... \r\nZarquon is a clear satyr to the religious messianic belief of the final judgement. Theologians call it \"eschatology\", the part of theology which deals with the end of times. Every major religion has an eschatology: it is indeed true that human being is really concerned about the end. We use to say that everything in life has an end, and we want to believe that The Universe, itself, will end somehow. We're used to death, to the effects time causes in things: they rot, they get older, they stop working, they die... at least, even rocks slowly erode. So... eternity is something that doesn't fit in our common sense: there can't be eternity by itself, it must be something special, different... God? Yes, God fits perfectly in the gap (let's ignore some size constraints, as we suppose He's infinitely big)... If the apocalypse really happened as in Adams' version, the event would be a commercial failure: Zarquon is a disaster as a speaker, and no-one gets judged... (oh... damn... no punishment for sinners)... Zarquon doesn't even seem concerned about that end-of-days stuff... maybe Adams wanted to show us we should not worry about theorizing these things, as they will happen the most improbable way, no matter what we try. I agree with him... although he was no prophet..." . "2005-12-23T01:48:31"^^ . . . "2005-12-18T18:10:48"^^ . "Religion is, indeed, human" . "Yes, Religion is, indeed, human. Last week, a famous portuguese magazine published a translation of an article by Nicolas Revory (Science & Vie), originally called \"Dieu: pourquoi il ne disparaîtra jamais\" (\"God: why he won't ever disappear\"), published with \"Science et Vie\", in August 2005. The article speaks about the emerging \"science\" of neurotheology, and \"blames\" serotonin for creating the illusion of mystical experience in the human brain. Scientific studies revealed that there's a visible relation between the level of neurotransmitters present in one's brain, and his/her tendence to believe. So, now it seems logical that believers suffer less from depressive disorders than non-believers. As it seems, the direction of this interaction has not been yet estabilished. \"Am I not depressive because I'm religious, or am I religious because I'm always in a good mood, and I'm more prone to it?\" Or can there be a symbiosis between good mood and belief?\r\nRecalling some observations from my religious past, it seems very logical to me. A \"fanatic\" religious experience begins by making someone believe in an ethereal presence (Jesus, for instance...), and making him/her believe that he/she is not the only one noticing that \"presence\" (group experiences). As the serotonin levels are increased, the subject's \"faith\" grows to the point of feeling completely in harmony with that misterious presence. After that, we have to make sure those levels remain stable.\r\nI do not agree with some of the methods that certain groups inside christianity use, when it comes to \"convert\" people. We're not talking about reflex conditioning or brain washing: we're talking about mystical experiences and stuff like that... they can induce people into believing the unbelievable. If religion was, in the past, an obligation for some, now, some people look to it as something similar to a drug, capable of removing the \"weight of the universe\" from our shoulders... is religion really a human need, is it a human creation? I believe that those who today claim that science and religion live in different areas, will regret it, in the future." . "2005-12-23T16:49:39"^^ . . . "2005-12-10T01:27:55"^^ . "Feel like Agrajag..." . "And i feel tempted to go out and insult everyone i find, like Wowbagger..." . "2005-12-23T16:49:10"^^ . . . "2005-12-04T02:06:44"^^ . "For the religious..." . "DNA, Douglas Noel Adams, the man behind \"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy\"... here's a good way of remembering his genius...\r\nhttp://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/" . "2005-12-23T17:19:33"^^ . . . "2005-12-04T02:01:20"^^ . "The pros and cons of being human" . "I've noticed today that the human mind is terribly self-delusional. Why do we try to avoid so many inevitable things? Here we have a good theme for a psychological paper... delusion. Where does it come from, why does it happen, how does it change through time? I look to it as a self-induced reality, something you synthesize from your desires, maybe... How do we feed our delusions? Are they simple logic miscalculations, or could it be that delusions exist above our \"logic layer\"? So many questions... how can we simulate delusion (is it even possible?) in artificial entities?\r\nHum..." . "2005-12-23T17:08:53"^^ . . . "2005-12-04T01:49:13"^^ . "Zen sucks" . "Ok, be smart... if you ever have to choose between an mp3 player and a Creative Zen... choose the first, it doesn't matter which it is.\r\nCreative Zen's features/price ratio is the best in the market, but this while iPod-like gadged is as stable as a depressed nun. The first day i bought it, I noticed a problem in the female jack which connected to the headphones: it was very unstable, and one of the channels was faulty. OK, I sent it back, and they gave me another one... three days later, i started having hard disk problems: it seems to hang randomly. Please don't buy a Zen, at least until Creative heals all the chronic diseases it suffers from.\r\nSo, not a lot of music lately... I've noticed that Brahms' requiem is a nice piece of art... wonderful. I'm currently listening to the tertiary phase of \"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy\". I'm having a lot of work at FEUP: distributed AI assignment, software eng. lab assignment, enterprise management assignment, the autonomous robot project (check my wiki), and so on...\r\nI'm currently trying to track down a bug in the Linux port of Noble Ape 0.676. It seems like there is a thread concurrency issue... i'll have to study it closely (when i have time...;)).\r\nStay tuned..." . "2005-12-23T16:53:31"^^ . . . "2005-11-25T21:22:31"^^ . "Useless stuff" . "Hello all (as if someone would read this...). Sorry for the lack of posts, lately. I've been busy with so many useless stuff: do you know VDM++? OK... if you don't, feel happy. And the \"best\" IDE around is worse than the language... VDMtools is unstable, incomplete and not free. I find Knuth's idea of literate programming rather funny... but i don't find any pratical use for it. On what concerns to formal methods, I find them useful in some situations, but don't think that VDM++ is the perfect language for puting them on work.\r\nI would like to thank Steve Vai for the wonderful pieces of music i've been listening to, on my way to faculty. Ultra Zone's \"Lucky Charms\" clearly confirms Zappa's influence, and I consider it one of the best examples of the \"Zappa\" genre (prog/symphonic/cacophonic rock?).\r\nIt's a pity Vitória has drawn with Bolton..." . "2005-12-23T17:09:16"^^ . . . "2005-11-06T16:27:42"^^ . "The European Crisis" . "So much stuff to do... sorry for the lack of posts, everyone... I've been very busy at Uni, with assignments and extra projects, so, I haven't had a lot of time for writing, lately. Anyway, I've been listening to several amounts of music: travelled through the latin word, with Madredeus and Astor Piazzola (viva el tango!). Frank Zappa, Dream Theater and Neal Morse (this last, a great christian musician) surprise me everyday. John Petrucci is back to the G3 (i wasn't aware of that fact)... why? Have no idea... he's very very good, and much better than Malmsteen, teaming with Vai and Satriani (no offense, Yngwie)... but it's strange that they're back together with John, after playing a tour with Malmsteen (or is it usual?).\r\nI've been following some of the events happening in France. It's completely surreal... there must be a solution for the problem social exclusion, and we must start building it as soon as possible, if we don't want to repeat the \"french error\" all through Europe." . "2005-12-23T17:09:30"^^ . . . "2005-10-02T16:49:38"^^ . "So maaany things" . "Just discovered the beauty of \"Madredeus\", the most famous portuguese music group. I've always been an admirer, but now i'm listening deeper into their sounds... it's just fantastic, the fusion of folk portuguese music, Fado, some brazilian-inspired sounds... and Teresa Salgueiro's voice is something surreal...\r\nStill reading \"Descartes' Error\" (i haven't spent a lot of time reading, lately), and philosophying about the usual question about soul, identity, and portuguese sociology (a veeeery complex issue).\r\nLet's see if something useful arises..." . "2005-12-23T17:10:03"^^ . . . "2005-10-01T23:03:22"^^ . "Vitória allez!" . "Just to report that Vitória won 1-0 at Wisla's, making it 4-0 in both rounds :). It's currently the only portuguese team in the UEFA cup.\r\nI'm reading António Damásio's \"Descartes' Error\", a book about emotion, reason, and the human brain. It's a modern classic, a complete thesis on the human thought and emotion..." . "2005-12-23T17:10:21"^^ . . . "2005-09-24T00:27:34"^^ . "The Human Mind" . "This subject has been consuming my philosophical thoughts, in the last days. The ideas of Marvin Minsky about the \"Society of Mind\" and the \"Noble Ape Philosophic\" from Tom Barbalet (as well as the original Nervana Manual) have changed a lot my perception of AI. It's all about thinking about mind as a set of interconnected relatively simple subsystems, instead of a monolithic complex structure.\r\nNoble Ape goes far beyond the classical AI, and explores the connection between physical reality and the \"inner world\": memory, emotions, feelings... and the way they're generated from our sensorial information.\r\n\r\nMore thoughts on mind, emotions and reality:\r\n\r\nhttp://www.nobleape.com/docs/philosophic.html\r\nhttp://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/damasioreview.html\r\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Mind\r\n" . "2005-12-23T17:11:09"^^ . . . "2005-09-16T00:17:07"^^ . "Vitória wins" . "Ok, back from the game \"Vitória de Guimarães vs. Wisla Krakow\", Vitória won 3-0, great 3rd goal, by Benachur, from outside the box.\r\nLet's see how it goes in the second round." . "2005-12-23T17:11:24"^^ . . . "2005-09-04T17:53:39"^^ . "Portuguese freshmen reception" . "I don't know if foreign people have any idea of the extent of the \"hazing\" practices in the Universitary Portugal.\r\nI would say that hazing activities are almost legal here. Universities consent their practice, or some don't even care about it. For me, that kind of \"freshmen\" initiation looks stupid, meaningless and childish. Unfortunately, many people take them as very serious, and even consider them as a benefit for the \"hazed\".\r\nI agree that everyone should have some support when joining the University, and group activities may be very cool to help people know each other and feel as part of a group. But i don't think that those activities have to be sadistic, humiliating and meaningless.\r\n\r\nFor those who want to know more about it:\r\nhttp://www.stophazing.org\r\nhttp://www.antipodas.web.pt/ (Portuguese)\r\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome\r\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazing" . "2005-12-23T17:11:35"^^ . . . "2005-09-01T00:08:12"^^ . "\"A night at Parreirinha de Alfama\"" . "Today, I found a fado CD in the \"Portuguese Music\" section at the local Worten. \"Uma noite na Parreirinha de Alfama\" (\"A Night at Parreirinha de Alfama\") is an old live recording (1962-1965), remastered to CD from the original tapes, which costed me no more no less than 6 euro. It features great names of the traditional fado, like Celeste Rodrigues, Maria da Fé, and, of course, Argentina Santos. I'm still studying the sounds and the words, but in the few minutes i've listened, I heard the tradicional \"fado environment\": tables, people, singing together some parts of the songs, clapping their hands at the end...\r\n\"Parreirinha de Alfama\" is a traditional bar in the traditional neighbourhood of Alfama (Lisbon).\r\n\r\nHere's a link with some info:\r\nhttp://poweredby.10best.com/Guides/details.process/SID_171/ID_ffadad84cfcc/BID_19635/" . "2005-12-23T17:07:18"^^ . . . "2005-08-30T22:38:38"^^ . "Noble Ape" . "I'm currently working on a project called \"Noble Ape\".\r\nThe founder and main developer, Tom Barbalet is a really cool guy, an excelent programmer, and a visionary.\r\nNoble Ape is all about biology, sociology, math, physics... a project that gathers a life's work, and knowledge in several areas.\r\nI've ported the interface to Linux, with Tom's precious help, and, now, I'll work with him in the script interpreter.\r\nIt's a great project, always looking for people who want to help and suggest new features.\r\n\r\nHere's the link to Noble Ape:\r\nhttp://www.nobleape.com/sim\r\n\r\nAnd here's a link to Tom Barbalet's blog:\r\nhttp://www.barbalet.net" . "2005-12-23T17:16:40"^^ . . . "2005-08-30T22:26:56"^^ . "Portuguese ecosystem complexity" . "One of the great issues of the portuguese ecosystem is that of the iberian lynx. Some ambientalists are quoted as believing that there is at least one lynx living in the Malcata Hills.\r\n\r\nHere's a page about it:\r\nhttp://lynxpardinus.naturlink.pt/linces_na_serra.html" . "2005-12-23T17:20:54"^^ . . . "2005-12-23T18:18:15"^^ . "Merry Christmas & Happy New Year" . "Just stopping here to wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Let's hope 2006 will be a better year for everyone, at least without some of the usual problems concerning war, famine, and poverty.\r\nA good life for everyone..." . "2005-12-23T18:19:15"^^ . . . "2005-12-28T11:56:06"^^ . "Pokemon Theme, and stuff" . "A friend has sent me this URL: http://www.smosh.com/videos.php. The Pokemon theme video is just fabulous... Beautiful, beautiful, congratulations to the guys in the movie..." . "2005-12-28T11:56:06"^^ . . . "2005-12-30T21:04:04"^^ . "A Christmas Gift from Nevada" . "Yesterday, I received a mail package from Las Vegas, from Tom Barbalet. It contained a Noble Ape T-Shirt and the original Noble Ape Manuals (first paper edition :D). Thanks a lot, Tom!\r\nIf you folks like them, you can \"wear\" Noble Ape here: http://www.cafepress.com/nobleape/.\r\n\r\nNoble Ape T-Shirt and Original Manuals" . "2005-12-31T22:44:35"^^ . . . "2005-12-31T19:31:02"^^ . "Google AdSense promotes lung cancer" . "I read somewhere that \"lung cancer\" is one of the highest paid keywords of the Google AdSense program. Maybe I should change the subject of the blog. Other keywords include \"mesothelioma lawyers\" (what the...?), and \"lexington law firm\". The web is indeed strange.\r\nI would love to watch the impact of this kind of news. The WWW is a complex society, and watching the fluctuations on the value of each keyword would be interesting. Maybe webmasters will start including a \"mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers mesothelioma lawyers\" somewhere in their site, so they can successfuly fool AdSense into providing higher-ranked keywords. What's the value of religion, for AdSense, anyway?" . "2005-12-31T19:37:09"^^ . . . "2006-01-01T00:15:35"^^ . "Happy New Year" . "I can wish you all a Happy 2006, now that the clock reached the end of the year, in GMT. Fireworks explode all around us, here in Guimarães, I can see them over the hills, from my 7th floor :). Let's hope that this year won't be at least as violent as the previous one. There's still a long path to follow, if we want peace and food for everyone. Let's follow this path the faster we can.\r\nA special HELLO for all those friends celebrating the European Meeting of the Community of Taizé, in Milan this year. Let's join them, and wish a better tomorrow for everyone." . "2006-01-01T00:15:35"^^ . . . "2006-01-03T12:17:00"^^ . "Yeah... I miss you too" . "It can happen to anyone...\r\nhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2828953843853640530&q=webcam" . "2006-01-03T12:17:00"^^ . . . "2006-01-04T22:02:54"^^ . "Lock Problems" . "Ok, life hasn't been unfair enough to me... I deserve it.\r\nI'm now ready to start a long night of Java, and, thanks God, I have no other option. Unfortunately, my door lock won't open from outside... and guess what... there's no-one inside!\r\nThanks Lord, you've taken the devils of temptation (specificaly bed, books and music) out of my way, so that I can finish my project in peace! \r\nOh, and if it's not too much for You, I'd love to know how am I supposed to get home again, tomorrow..." . "2006-01-04T22:02:54"^^ . . . "2006-01-08T01:12:18"^^ . "Se calhar é melhor assim..." . "Sometimes we find some mad sentences we identify ourselves with... sorry, it's written in portuguese, but i could not find a single translation, and it wouldn't be respectful to the author if i translated it myself (with my far-from-literate english).\r\n\r\nNão te culpo... não tens a mínima culpa na vida que tens, das coisas que sentes, das tuas pulsações longínquas, obedientes ao som ensurdecedor das tuas angústias e dos teus receios. Merda... a angústia sobe-me pela espinha acima, a melancolia cai-me nos ombros e atira-me para trás, o ciúme faz-me pequenos turbilhões na barriga, que querem subir e gritar um vómito mudo do que não existe em mim, de uma porcaria qualquer de que eu não sei falar. Eu falei mais línguas que as que existem, cantei mais quadras que os Horácios e Alighieris que por aí andaram, e fiz mais ciência do que todos os génios esquizofrénicos que os livros de história podem contar. Talvez tenha sido menos... e agora, perdido na embriaguez do desespero, marcado pela revolta e pelo passado... talvez me ache minimamente importante. Até pensei que não merecia nada disto. Não! Eu? Nunca matei, roubei, vezes dez, vezes vinte se inventarem mais tábuas da lei. Nunca, que me desminta essa figura esparsa que lentamente cresce e deforma cá dentro, tumor de natureza insondável que sei quem é (ou talvez nem tanto saiba). Não te culpo, só me posso culpar a mim, porque essas pulsações longínquas que de vez em quando sinto, às vezes me ferem, às vezes só me matam (mais uma vez), e são apenas coisas perdidas, imagens distorcidas...\r\nNão quero a verdade. As mentiras talvez me deixem mais feliz... Já ouvi verdades demais, e nunca compreendi porque teimam em insistir nelas. Continuem a mentir-me... ainda que não queiram, ainda que nunca tenham querido mentir. Ainda que eu saiba que vós mentis, ainda que eu caminhe por trilhos que não existem, vislumbre montanhas de éter e três sóis se ponham atrás de colinas invisíveis... se calhar é melhor assim...\r\nM. Macedo" . "2006-01-08T01:12:18"^^ . . . "2006-01-09T23:29:21"^^ . "A small step for man..." . "\r\n\r\nSimão and me, testing our colour-based object detector.\r\n( Thanks to the girl in the lab, for the colourful post ;) ) " . "2006-01-09T23:54:19"^^ . . . "2006-01-10T14:00:56"^^ . "Looking for financial miracles" . "These are the kind of things we should have planned years ago. Today, the newspaper headlines confirm that the portuguese social security system will bankrupt in 10 years. As if it wasn't predictable... less births, higher life expectations, utopian policies... The perfect ingredients for a bankrupted welfare state. It is good for me to know that the portuguese state will never pay me a pension, when I retire. Yes it's good, cos now I'm sure I'll never drop my money inside such a bottomless pit (i hope there will be other options, then). I'm afraid for my parents, and other people who paid their monthly contribution for years, and are now anguished by the simple suggestion that all that money disappeared inside a space-time singularity.\r\nThe portuguese welfare state is an old question, an endless romance, a moisture of corruption, injustice, negligence and some elements of old-school socialism. And, unfortunately, we're part of it..." . "2006-01-10T14:04:07"^^ . . . "2006-01-10T22:22:24"^^ . "The molecule of faith" . "During one of my recent visits to the old part of the city , I found myself inside St. Dominic's Church, with some friends. I noticed a vitrine, somewhat chaotic, cantaining several leaflets... informations, timetables, etc... and my eyes found a sheet of paper, no doubt it was \"home-printed\", probably MS Word. The paper claimed, gleefully, that \"faith is a human need\", \"scientists found the molecule of faith\" and \"religion is a good medicine for anxiety\"... In the bottom of the page, small letters showed the reference: the famous article from \"Science et Vie\" I talked about (see this post). I wonder if the guy who wrote that even read the entire article... The text was not very friendly to the common definition of \"faith\". It pratically dismantled faith into neurochemical processes, serotonin-based \"illusions\", and even compared its effect to those of some drughs. So, by saying that faith is a human phenomenon, we're not suggesting that it is so because God or other supreme will wanted it to, but that the probability that religion is simply a human creation is substancially higher than we thought previously.\r\nIt was not very wise, no doubt..." . "2006-01-10T22:22:24"^^ . . . "2006-01-11T16:09:06"^^ . "\"O Vento Assobiando nas Gruas\"" . "\r\n“The Wind whistling in the Cranes” is maybe the most consensual translation for the title of this book. Written by Lídia Jorge, a famous portuguese writer, this book won the \"Albatros\" prize, from the Günter Grass Foundation. I finished it yesterday, and, after a cold analysis of the book, I do not consider it as being what I call a \"torrential romance\" (like a \"The Moor's Last Sigh\" or \"Os Maias\"), but I loved the writing style and the subjects the author guides us through. The colonial Portugal, racism, social exclusion, the terrible crimes we agree to connive with, everyday... Lídia Jorge tells us an ordinary love story, which is not so \"ordinary\", as it is shared by two people from two different races and two different social contexts (which still shocks some portuguese minds).\r\nI definitely recommend this book (there are french and german translations, but I never heard of an english one)..." . "2007-02-14T00:00:06"^^ . . . "2006-01-14T21:24:08"^^ . "Mahler's Eight Symphony" . "In one of my usual trips through the giant encyclopedia, I found Gustav Mahler's \"Symphony No.8\". I didn't know this work of Mahler (I confess I knew Mahler's name, but not his work), and still haven't listened to it (I'll have to spend 90 minutes of my life listening to it, very carefuly :)), but the number of musicians required to perform it has left me astonished. In terms of demands, I believe we may compare Herr Mahler to J Lo... \"Yes, you can only play it if you get another toy piano! Oh, and a castrato choir would be just wonderful... I promise I will wear only a translucent tiny top if you get me caucasian castrati for the gig...\". But what amazes me most is this whimful requirement of Mahler: a triangle. Yes... this is what distinguishes a great composer from those pseudo-Bach-imitators... a triangle! (I wonder if you can even hear it, in the middle of that circus of 999 other people playing and singing)\r\n" . "2006-01-17T18:51:26"^^ . . . "2006-01-23T16:17:29"^^ . "Smoke on the Water" . "Diving through Wikipedia, i accidentaly found the history behind the 1973 hit \"Smoke on the water\", from Deep Purple.\r\n\r\nAs it seems, Deep Purple were recording at Montreux, and, one of those nights, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention were holding a concert at the casino. During the gig, a swiss fan fired a flare gun to the ceiling, and the casino ended up in flames.\r\n\r\nA beautiful story, indeed... why does everybody record in Montreux, anyway?" . "2006-01-27T01:19:40"^^ . . . "2006-01-17T18:49:03"^^ . "I was recording the motion of Noble Ape's brain window under Linux (there seem to have some problems with the rotation speed), and I ended up creating a flash animation of some brain patterns. I find the brain window very interesting, in Noble Ape, and the evolution and drawing process of the brain \"signals\" is very well done. Here's a sample:\r\n\r\nNoble Ape Brain Pattern" . "2006-01-17T18:56:40"^^ . . . "2006-01-21T19:33:36"^^ . "\"esurivi enim et non dedistis mihi manducare sitivi et non dedistis mihi potum hospes eram et non collexistis me nudus et non operuistis me infirmus et in carcere et non visitastis me\"\r\n

\"for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.\"

\r\n

Mt 25, 42-43

\r\n

" . "2006-01-21T19:39:10"^^ . . . "2006-01-27T01:15:18"^^ . "Gute geburstag, Amadeus!" . "(Please feel free to correct my awful german, if it's wrong... ok, it probably is wrong)\r\n\r\nHappy birthday to my friend Mozart, and the best wishes for his eternal life through music. It's amazing how, in the absence of audio recorders, Mozart was able to leave us an enormous amount of music. Mozart is, together with Bach, Beethoven and a few others (Chopin? Stravinsky? ...), one of the \"patriarchs\" of classical music, and certainly the most recognizable one. I recall the \"Alla turca\", the \"Magic Flute\" and that wonderful and misterious piece of music... the unfinished \"Requiem Mass in D minor\"...\r\n\r\nMozart was a genius, and because he was a genius, the world has not forgotten him and his work. He's everywhere, just listen carefully..." . "2006-01-27T01:17:28"^^ . . . "2006-01-27T01:33:38"^^ . "Blogshares" . "I've added this site to\r\n\r\n\"Listed" . "2007-02-13T23:59:28"^^ . . . "2006-01-28T14:34:45"^^ . "Rule, Britannia!" . "Well, I'm departing to London, today, with the \"perfect fifth\", the xilicau team.\r\n\r\n\"Big\r\n\r\nSee you tuesday!" . "2006-01-28T14:42:31"^^ . . . "2006-02-01T14:25:56"^^ . "Back" . "After 3 days living in civilization, I'm home again, and... guess what? Bill Gates is here too, visiting the country like a state head figure. The portuguese press calls him \"the genius of informatics\"... no comments...\r\n\r\nMr. Gates was quoted as saying he spends most of his time \"visiting underdeveloped countries\"... and no-one here has yet realized he could be including us on that list. Mr. Gates, to the portuguese press, is a genius; a man whose obsession with security and repulsion against tv cameras is regarded as perfectly natural, as he's rich... \"money doesn't matter\", he says, \"as long as you do what you like\". It's easy to tell this kind of stuff to high school students, when you're the richest guy on earth." . "2006-02-01T14:26:27"^^ . . . "2006-02-18T01:04:31"^^ . "\"A grrrrail?\"" . "
Arthur: What manner man are you that you can summon up fire without flint or tinder?
Tim: I... am an enchanter.
Arthur: By what name are you known?
Tim: There are some who call me... 'Tim'?
" . "2006-02-18T01:14:30"^^ . . . "2006-02-04T20:34:19"^^ . "Censorship in China" . "Shocking... is this freedom? Big corporations connive with orwelian masterplans to distort the truth. Google, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo...\r\n" . "2006-02-04T21:32:48"^^ . . . "2006-02-17T02:23:53"^^ . "Who told ya..." . "Who told you X.org could not be pleasant to your eye?\r\n\r\n(I'm currently trying to install it, as it's not included with the standard X.org distribution, yet...)\r\nHome, home again! Classes start on Monday, and it feels like the first semester is still rolling. Everything's going OK with the robot. We're getting the hang of it. It looks as we've got a pretty good odometry. Just in case you don't know what odometry is:\r\n\r\nIt's a pretty (how can i say?)... bovine (i mean, brute) way of knowing the robot's displacement and position. It's like counting the steps you've walked, so you may know where you are... pretty stupid, no? But it works for short distances...\r\n\r\nWe're currently getting perceptions together in a map, so we can know where we are, and what areas we may walk through, without bumping against a wall. Pretty funny problem... How to recognize a valid path, which guarantees the robot will have space to spin around? :)\r\n\r\nThey're passing \"LOST\" for the second time, on the TV... I'm following it, and I must confess it surprised me in the positive sense. I had never seen it (I'm not a TV/cinema fan), and I'm enjoying the plot. Let's hope it doesn't turn into an X-files-like monster..." . "2006-02-18T01:14:09"^^ . . . "2006-02-04T21:44:51"^^ . "Perens' Speech" . "Speaking of Proprietary vs. Free Software (see http://zarquon.biz/weblog/?p=41), here's Bruce Perens' speech at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society. I find it very interesting. Most people should read this kind of stuff, and many stupid discussions would be avoided.\r\n" . "2006-02-04T21:50:10"^^ . . . "2006-02-12T01:09:36"^^ . "Happy Birthday, Noble Ape" . "OK, I'm a little late (I've been a bit busy at university), but I'd like to remember that, on 9th February, the Noble Ape project comemorated its 10th year of life. Here you can read some testimonials about the project, made by some \"noble people\" (me included ;) ):\r\n\r\nThe simulation is undergoing substancial changes (a new interface, codename \"True3d\" is being planned), what I find very positive, cos it means that, for now, Noble Ape carries on. If you haven't checked Noble Ape yet, try it. It's a somewhat \"mature\" biological simulation (10 years... wooow... :) ), and yet you don't like AI/ALife, it's always amusing having a look at those red dots moving, and sleeping, and eating, and so on...\r\n\r\nP.S.: 10 years ago, I was giving my first steps in the programming world... QBasic :D weeeeeee... Some other news from 1996 include Dolly the sheep, the first version of the Java programming language, the Watergate scandal, the releases of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D, the sad death of Carl Sagan... check this for more info:\r\n" . "2006-02-12T14:08:19"^^ . . . "2006-02-18T01:11:12"^^ . "Et in arcadia ego..." . "\"poussin42.JPG\"\r\n Nicolas Poussin. Les Bergers d'Arcadie" . "2006-02-18T01:22:41"^^ . . . "2006-02-18T16:31:37"^^ . "Portugal for Beginners" . "Still think that Portugal is a small village in Tennessee? Thinking about wasti... i mean... spending your vacation here? Fond of fish? Want to improve your global culture?\r\n\r\nThis site is a relic. A short and true (cof! cof!) explanation about this small seaside garden :).\r\nAn excerpt, about the miracle of Fátima:\r\n\r\n\r\n \"1917 - Three children from Fátima claim having seen Saint Mary floating over a bush. An enormous cult starts based on that. A couple of months later, José Simões, a drunkard from Lisbon, claims to have seen Jesus Christ swimming in the river Tagus and is ignored.\"\r\n\r\nAnd, on the battle of Alcácer-Quibir...\r\n\r\n \"1577 - King Sebastião heads a military expedition to northern Africa and is killed with most of his followers in the battle of Alcácer-Quibir. This would be the most inteligent action in european history since the roman consul, Tulius Popilius said \"this Pompei place would be really nice to build a city. Nevermind the volcano.\" In 1580, king Philip of Spain took over as king of Portugal and Spain.\"" . "2006-02-18T16:35:01"^^ . . . "2006-02-25T16:47:23"^^ . "Bad news..." . "Hello...\r\n\r\nWriting from a Windows box, as my laptop is being infected with Windows, right now. I had no choice, as it seems that I'll need to develop under that platform, in one of this semester's courses. But the \"supreme sacrifice\" will be installing Visual Studio .NET. Good afternoon, this is my dies irae...\r\nSpeaking about happy stuff, I've been instructing myself on control theory... the robot needs smooth trajectory correction, and our proportial correction was not behaving very politely. So, we've spent the whole week working on a PID control (finding the best way to implement it, tune it...), during the few spaces left after classes (I have a very odd timetable, this semester). Yesterday, we were told that the motor/encoder drivers we're using can be programmed to perform PID control of the velocity... everything is done by the microcontroller, so... we've been wasting our time. Well... learning is not a waste of time ;).\r\n\r\nI've been discovering the wonders of AOP (\"Aspect Oriented Programming \"). It seems a very interesting concept, and very useful too...\r\n" . "2006-02-25T16:48:49"^^ . . . "2006-02-26T00:29:36"^^ . "HP Rocks..." . "Well, I've been facing some problems with my notebook. When i connect the battery (keeping AC plugged), the USB controller crashes, under Windows or Linux... So, I thought about asking the guys who made this crap... I found the HP \"chat with an assistant\" help. \"Great\", I thought, \"at least I won't have to speak with machines or answer dumb questions...\"\r\n\r\nI was wrong...\r\n[Transcription]\r\n\r\nValeria: Hello Pedro.\r\nValeria: Welcome to HP Total Care for Pavilion Products. My name is Valeria. How may I assist you today?\r\nPedro Ferreira: Hello\r\nPedro Ferreira: i'm having a problem with my notebook\r\nPedro Ferreira: when i connect the battery to the laptop, usb devices stop working\r\nValeria: Please proceed.\r\nPedro Ferreira: i tried under Windows and Linux\r\nValeria: Since when are you facing this issue?\r\nPedro Ferreira: and it happened with both\r\nPedro Ferreira: since the beginning of the week, i believe\r\nPedro Ferreira: at first i thought it was a linux kernel issue, but i experimented it under windows\r\nPedro Ferreira: usb just dies\r\nValeria: Is everything fine when the battery is removed?\r\nPedro Ferreira: yes\r\nValeria: Please allow me a couple of minutes while I have a small research on the issue.\r\nPedro Ferreira: ok\r\nPedro Ferreira: thank you\r\n[in fact, some \"couples\" of minutes... what? 20 minutes?] \r\nPedro Ferreira: still there?\r\nValeria: Yes. I am here.\r\nValeria: Just a couple of moments please.\r\nPedro Ferreira: when i meant everything was ok when the battery was removed, i meant, if i booted with the battery inserted and took it off\r\nPedro Ferreira: not after the usb crash\r\nPedro Ferreira: i can only solve the crash by rebooting\r\nPedro Ferreira: i don't know if i was clear explaining\r\nValeria: I understand.\r\nValeria: I see that the USB device you are using needs additional power to operate which the battery is unable to produce.\r\n Pedro Ferreira: howcome?\r\nPedro Ferreira: a mouse?\r\n\r\n[She must think I have a 1200W mouse]\r\nValeria: So, I recommend you use a USB powered hub.\r\nPedro Ferreira: i don't think i'm clarifying my problem\r\nPedro Ferreira: i plug and unplug the battery with the AC power plugged in\r\nPedro Ferreira: why would i need more power?\r\nValeria: Okay.\r\nPedro Ferreira: the usb controller seems to crash when the battery is unplugged\r\nValeria: I recommend you please follow the steps below:\r\nValeria: Are you using the same Notebook now?\r\nPedro Ferreira: no, but it's here on my side\r\n\r\n[she was very fast writing this...]\r\n\r\nValeria: Reinstalling USB Ports In Windows XP:\r\n\r\nTo reinstall USB Ports in Windows XP, you must first uninstall the device by following these steps:\r\n\r\n1. Click Start, select Control Panel, and then choose Performance and Maintenance.\r\n2. Click the System icon to open the System Properties window.\r\n3. Click the Hardware tab and click Device Manager.\r\n4. Click the plus beside Universal Serial Bus controllers.\r\n5. Select a device listed under Universal Serial Bus controller and click the Remove button.\r\n6. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the device.\r\n\r\nNOTE: Repeat step 5 and 6 until all the devices under Universal Serial Bus controller are removed.\r\n7. Click Apply and then click OK.\r\n\r\nThe USB port is now uninstalled.\r\n\r\n[wow...]\r\n\r\nNow, restart the system. The system will automatically detect and reinstall the USB port.\r\nDuring restart, Windows will automatically detect and reinstall the hardware device.\r\n\r\n[great.. the old \"uninstall-and-see-if-it-fixes\" technique]\r\nPedro Ferreira: ok... but... my windows install is fresh... i've made it today, and it doesn't work under linux either\r\nPedro Ferreira: i'll try it\r\n\r\n[now, i try to speak, but the chat system complains]\r\n\r\nThis session is not yet active or is no longer active.\r\n\r\n[sh*t ...]\r\n\r\nI eventually found that this battery thing is a matter of speed... if i'm fast plugging the battery, it works OK, otherwise, USB crashes..." . "2006-02-26T00:33:24"^^ . . . "2006-02-26T15:46:47"^^ . "The HP saga continues..." . "OK. So, the idea of sending my notebook to HP's technical support is too frightening for me... I thoght that a BIOS update could (with a probability of 1/1E999) solve the problem, if it was firmware issue. However, the software available (unfortunately, Windows ony) in HP's support page doesn't work, as it extracts files to an hardcoded location (\"c:\\bios\\wf\"), that I don't have... as my main Windows drive is F:, and I can't change it.\r\nSo, I decided to chat again with an on-line technician...\r\n\r\nI thought the previous operator was dumb, but this one suprised me...\r\n\r\nStacy: Hello Pedro\r\nStacy: Welcome to HP Total care. My name is Stacy. How may I assist you today?\r\nPedro Ferreira: Hello\r\nStacy: Hi\r\nStacy: Please go ahead with your inquiry.\r\nPedro Ferreira: I want to perform the BIOS update\r\nPedro Ferreira: but the program fails executing\r\nStacy: May I have a few moments of your time while I search information for you?\r\nPedro Ferreira: complaining about c:\\bios\\wf\r\nPedro Ferreira: i think the problem is i don't have a c: drive\r\nPedro Ferreira: my main drive is f:\r\nPedro Ferreira: ok, go ahead\r\nStacy: Thank you\r\n\r\n[10 minutes later]\r\n\r\nStacy: Thank you for your patience and time.\r\nStacy: You can download and install the BIOS updates from the below link:\r\n\r\nhttp://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?dlc=en&lc=en\r\n&os=228&product=1101415〈=en&cc=us&softwareitem=ob-34131-1\r\n\r\n[duuuuuhhhh!]\r\nPlease do not click the Web site. Please copy and paste it in a new browser Window and open it.\r\nPedro Ferreira: but... i've downloaded the update\r\nPedro Ferreira: the problem is it doesn't work!\r\nPedro Ferreira: as i said, it complains about a \"c:\\bios\\wd\" directory\r\nPedro Ferreira: c:\\bios\\wf, i mean\r\nStacy: Please delete the BIOS folder in the C: drive and try to install the BIOS updates.\r\nPedro Ferreira: hello?\r\nPedro Ferreira: i have no c: drive\r\nPedro Ferreira: my main drive is F:\r\nStacy: One moment..\r\nStacy: Thank you for your patience and time.\r\nStacy: Please follow the below steps to change the drive letter:\r\n\r\n1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.\r\n\r\n2. Under Computer Management, click Disk Management. In the right pane, you’ll see your drives listed. CD-ROM drives are listed at the bottom of the pane.\r\n\r\n3. Right-click the drive or device you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.\r\n4. Click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the drive letter you want to assign, and then click OK\r\nPedro Ferreira: it doesn't let me change\r\nPedro Ferreira: because it's the \"system volume\"\r\nStacy: Make sure that you have logged in as Administrator.\r\nPedro Ferreira: i'm the administrator\r\nPedro Ferreira: i think your application should be more flexible\r\nPedro Ferreira: i have no fault of having an f: drive\r\nStacy: One moment...\r\nPedro Ferreira: and being unable to change it\r\nStacy: Thank you for your patience and time.\r\nStacy: Try to follow the steps given in the below link:\r\n\r\nhttp://www.petri.co.il/change_a_drive_letter_in_windows_xp.htm\r\n\r\nPlease do not click the Web site. Please copy and paste it in a new browser Window and open it.\r\n\r\n[The old \"ask google\" solution]\r\n\r\nPedro Ferreira: it's the same instructions you gave me!\r\nPedro Ferreira: \"You will not be able to change the boot or system drive letter in this manner.\"\r\nPedro Ferreira: well, bye\r\nPedro Ferreira: no time to waste with this kind of support\r\nStacy: Hello?\r\n\r\n[Bye...]\r\n\r\nI hate this... these guys don't know what they're doing..." . "2006-02-26T15:49:45"^^ . . . "2006-04-11T20:14:57"^^ . "Speaking of Mellotron..." . "And speaking of mellotron...
\nHere's a wonderful set of flash movies, explaining how all those old electric organs and pianos worked.
\nIngenious... very ingenious..." . "2006-04-11T20:14:57"^^ . . . "2006-03-04T13:37:02"^^ . "IBM goes Ajax" . "Well, it seems that the old \"i like ASP.NET cos it's got a great IDE\" excuse will end. IBM announced, two days ago, along with BEA, Borland, Eclipse Foundation, Google, Mozilla, Oracle, Red Hat, Yahoo, and others, that they intend to \"promote Ajax's promise of universal compatibility with any computer device, application, desktop or operating system, and easy incorporation into new and existing software programs\". As it seems, IBM will provide Eclipse and Mozilla foundations with the proper means to develop an \"Eclipse Ajax toolkit framework\", which intends to support multiple Ajax runtime toolkits: Dojo, OpeRico and Zimbra, and others, through the easily extensible Eclipse platform.\r\n\r\nLooks like good news for web developers." . "2006-03-04T13:37:02"^^ . . . "2006-03-26T00:17:15"^^ . "Mahavishnu, Gato, et al" . "I've been listening through the wonderful repertoire of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. John McLaughlin is, no doubt, a virtuoso, but even more amazing is the whole Mahavishnu ensemble. After some weeks around Chick Corea, those exquisite guys are my new musical target.\r\n\r\n\"Gato Fedorento\", the portuguese Monty Python, started their new series, \"Lopes da Silva\", yesterday, at the portuguese channel RTP1. Unfortunately, I couldn't watch it, so, I'm downloading it from eMule.\r\nWell, do you wanna know exact sunrise and sunset times for your location? OK, you don't, but I find it very interesting:\r\n" . "2006-03-26T00:17:15"^^ . . . "2006-05-12T12:09:16"^^ . "Microrato" . "Well, just want to let you know that the \"Microrato\" went the worst way possible. Unfortunately, a problem in one of the power cables made the mini-itx reboot seconds before the start, and the bot didn't move... it's so frustrating... months of work lost in a fraction of second.\r\n\r\nWell... let the grand piano fall on me..." . "2006-05-12T12:09:16"^^ . . . "2007-03-10T07:48:15"^^ . "Welcome to Meyrin, Mr. Ferreira" . "It's split in two by the border between France and Switzerland: most of the land is French, but the official currency is the CHF. The Meyrin site, at CERN, is a gigantic complex of buildings, where 6000 people work, everyday, for the benefit of science. It starts in Meyrin, in the outskirts of Geneva, and ends in a small french village called Saint-Genis, where the \"Charles de Gaulle gate\" opens everyday, so that people do not have to cross the border in order to get to CERN. It is surprising the large amount of people which cross the gate by bicycle [have to buy one, urgently]. However, less than 30 minutes walking are enough to get from Saint-Genis to building 513, the home of the UDS unit from the IT department. There, I share an office with Piotr and David, from Poland and France, respectively, experienced developers of the InDiCo system, the information system which manages the events that take place at CERN, an open source project adopted worldwide (by Fermilab, for instance).\r\nAt circa 100 meters deep into the soil, a giant gallery holds what will be called the \"Large Hadron Collider\" (LHC). Initially scheduled for the end of this year, the completion of the greates science experiment ever made will be probably delayed until the spring of 2008.\r\n" . "2007-03-10T07:48:15"^^ . . . "2006-03-07T17:22:50"^^ . "Spore" . "Looking through Barbalet's log , i found this wonderful thing:\r\n\r\nI had never heard of Spore before. It's not a new concept... i believe everyone who likes ALife has thought about something like it, at least once. The question is... who's going to have time, patience (and money) to develop such a megalomanous project? It looks that Will Wright and Maxis will. The preview is stunning... i couldn't believe it was possible to do that kind of stuff with the computers of nowadays. It's a pity it's a commercial game, although i believe this is the kind of commercial product that has got the complete right to exist (revolutionary, in every way, and very educational, too). Maybe it will be \"the game whose price worths it all\".\r\nLooking at Spore, i recalled the concept of \"organization levels\" (that thing of cell->being->tribe->city->planet->universe). Many years ago, i remember reading a book from Henri Laborit, \"Dieu ne joue pas aux dés\"... Laborit explained me, for the first time, the concept of cybernetics. His perspective about life in general was quite systemic... as if everything worked as a system, varying only in size. I think I'll take a better look at it, one of these days. The more we learn, the more we recall some echoes from the past, hidden knowledge we thought we had not." . "2006-03-09T14:42:17"^^ . . . "2006-03-10T23:18:59"^^ . "Un conté d'été" . "I wish everything was easy... as easy as a summer's tale...\r\n\r\nJe suis une fille de corsaire\r\nOn m'appelle la flibustière\r\nJ'aime le vent, j'aime la houle\r\nJe fends la mer comme la foule la foule la foule\r\n\r\nVite vite mon joli bateau\r\nIl ne sera jamais trop tot\r\nPour voguer vers San Francisco, en passant par Valparaiso\r\nEt gagner les Aléoutiennes, en traversant les mers indiennes\r\nIl faut que j'aille au bord du monde\r\nPour savoir si la terre est ronde\r\n

(Don't remember the author, sorry...)

" . "2006-03-10T23:18:59"^^ . . . "2006-03-13T15:04:08"^^ . "www.zarquon.biz with new look" . "I gave www.zarquon.biz a new look. It's not as chaotic as before. Google adsense is not going very well, as expected. I suspect this is not the kind of program for content-based pages... Whatever...
" . "2006-03-13T15:04:08"^^ . . . "2006-03-18T21:51:02"^^ . "Benedict is Modern" . "Pope Benedict is a normal guy, after all. Now he has bought an iPod...
\nNo doubt, a modern pope..." . "2006-03-18T21:51:02"^^ . . . "2006-03-22T14:23:45"^^ . "The Selfish Gene" . "I'm currently reading Richard Dawkins' best-seller \"The Selfish Gene\". I found it at the local bookstore, and immediately bought it, after reading the short description on the back.\r\nI'm not a biology fan, everybody knows. However, biology is probably the shortest path we may follow, towards our most desired answers. I've lost my hope about it, in what concerns to religion (OK, i never thought I would find a single answer in religion)... religion is a giant question. Dawkins is very aggressive speaking of it (read \"Viruses of the Mind\"), and compares religious belief to biological infections. I don't agree completely on that, but... yes... religion can turn into a disease, if you let it take control.\r\nWell, speaking about genes, Dawkins completely brings down our assumptions about love, society, and collapses everything into a small set of selfish behaviours... I'll read on. I'm loving it, for now...\r\n" . "2006-03-22T14:24:28"^^ . . . "2006-03-25T14:35:54"^^ . "Spam... 687" . "Well... today I noticed I had 687 comments awaiting moderation. As I know that no-one reads this thing, I found it very weird, and decided to check... well... from \"xanax\" to \"casino\", I had the complete repertoire of spam subjects. And guess what...? Russian sites!\r\n\r\nSpam is growing in the weblogosphere, no doubt. The time will come when you'll have to insert a stupid letter combination in a textbox to be able to comment my posts. We're suffering the consequences of excessive automation. Meanwhile, anti-spam business seems like a good investment: it's like the antivirus problem - more problems, more profit..." . "2006-03-25T14:36:11"^^ . . . "2006-04-08T00:11:37"^^ . "I've always loved the do it yourself kind of stuff. This one is a great example: a home-made Mellotron. Yes, the keyboard that ruled prog and new age for years... It's amazing how you can turn 13 spare walkman into a playable instrument. OK, you probably don't have 13 walkman inside your \"90's ark\", but they're turning into trash now... you probably can buy them at ebay, or buy them from your more retroesque friends.\r\n\r\nHere's the link, anyway...\r\n" . "2006-04-08T00:11:37"^^ . . . "2006-04-02T00:44:18"^^ . "\"It may be that brain hardware has co-evolved with the internal virtual worlds that it creates. This can be called hardware-software co-evolution.\"\r\n
Richard Dawkins
\r\n\"It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart.\"\r\n

Karl Barth

" . "2006-04-02T00:47:58"^^ . . . "2006-04-12T11:45:12"^^ . "Inverse Projection" . "After some hours roasting my brains, here's the result (left) of the inverse projection of a simple image (right). Let's do it with roads now :).\r\n\r\n\"CapturaEcra.png\"" . "2006-04-12T11:46:40"^^ . . . "2006-04-15T00:49:40"^^ . "K626" . "

Well... what concert would be better to the good friday, than the famous \"Mozart's Requiem in D minor\"? Well, I loved it on CD, and now love it even more, after listening to it, just in front of me... The Choir of Letters of the University of Porto and the Remix Baroque Orchestra joined their magnificient sound, in order to reproduce one of the most misterious masterpieces of all time. It was very nice to feel the requiem as it would be played in the time of Mozart, without the romantic overproduction or the wagnerian violence of Karajan. The performers were simply wonderful... I congratulate the Cultural Centre of Vila Flor, at my hometown, Guimarães, for this magnificient choice.

\r\n

Mozart's music is particularly difficult to perform. His admirable clarity exacts absolute cleanness: the slightest mistake in it stands out like black on white. It is music in which all the notes must be heard. ~ Gabriel Fauré

\r\n

Mozart is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven created his music, but the music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it — that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed. ~ Albert Einstein

\r\n

Mozart is the musical Christ. ~ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky\r\n

\r\n" . "2006-04-15T00:49:40"^^ . . . "2006-05-01T22:58:12"^^ . "Fat, Big, but Intelligent" . "

\"DSC02417.jpg\"

\r\n

Well, I'm back from the National Robotics Festival, where I took part in the \"autonomous driving\" competition. And I guess that, in the end, the balance was positive.

\r\nWe arrived the place of the competition (at Guimarães, Portugal, my hometown), on friday. We had not slept a lot in the previous days, as the robot's VIA mini-itx motherboard and our webcam drivers refused to collaborate, leaving us with a miserable framerate and a several delay regarding image acquisition. So, we ended up losing two days trying to set it up the right way. Obviously, it didn't work.\r\nSo, on friday, we thought about a number of (unreliable and/or expensive) solutions, and finally decided to remove the motherboard and place my notebook on its top. Well... Unfortunately, we had to remove the cameras from their original place, as they were mounted on the top of the box, too. So, we worked till 7 am, on friday, and on the following day, we managed to make the first lap (unfortunately, the bot collided against the traffic lights). On the second day, we started working from 9 am, and, by the end of the day, we had the robot ready to recognize the traffic lights, avoid the obstacle, and park. Unfortunately, a bug derived from the introduction of the parking code ruined our performance, as the robot tried to park at the end of the first half-lap. However, we were not the only ones out of luck, and we made the 4th place on that round. Another night of code (arrived home at 4 AM), and the bot was almost ready to pass the tunnel, and the road works zone. On the following morning, we managed to complete it, although we knew that the probably of finishing a lap was not very high, as the red and white strips on the works zone were not very \"visible\" for the sonars. So, we ended up colliding with a strip, and leaving the track. However, we made the 3rd position on that round, as only one robot made the complete circuit. Final classification: 6th place, in 14 teams. Not bad...\r\nWell, I guess it was very positive. The problems and means we had costed us a lot of work, but we managed to find a reactive and simple solution that worked to some extent. The balance was positive, and now we turn our attention to the \"Microrato\" (the portuguese \"somewhat\" of the micromouse).\r\n\r\nThanks to Pedro (not me, the ninja) for the photo of the FBI in competition." . "2006-05-03T17:20:13"^^ . . . "2006-05-12T12:38:21"^^ . "Ape Reality" . "News from our friend, Tom Barbalet, the man behind Noble Ape. He's now running a podcast - \"Ape Reality\". I've downloaded it yesterday - it's great for my trips from faculty to school, and vice-versa. Tom speaks about ALife, Science, Religion, Noble Ape, and Open Source development. I found the \"Science vs. Religion\" episode specially good, as it focuses the \"great debate\". As a believer and a man of science, this subject \"torments\" me everyday. I don't share with Tom the idea that ALife may exist without giving support to either science or religion. I see ALife itself as opposed to the jewish-christian tradition of the creation: \"artificial life\" is a paradox, when analyzed over the axioms of christian theology: for christianity, life is a gift from God, and each \"life entity\" is completely unique. Life is \"natural\", as it comes directly from God. Being that artificial things are man-made, artificial life cannot exist. So, I look to ALife as a science: a new science, on its first steps.\r\nI definitely recommend \"Ape Reality\" to those who care about this kind of philosophical questions. It's worth the time ;).\r\n" . "2006-05-12T12:38:21"^^ . . . "2006-05-30T16:36:15"^^ . "George Harrison is not quite dead" . "Yeah... that's true.\r\n\r\nThere's a 66% probability that I'm George Harrison's reincarnation.\r\n\r\n\"imgeorgeharrison.png\"\r\n\r\nOn the other hand...\r\n\r\n\"imightberonaldo.png\"\r\n\r\nThere's a 52% probability that I'm Ronaldo (not bad at all... I could be eating Merche Romero, right now!).\r\n" . "2006-05-30T16:36:15"^^ . . . "2006-06-09T18:27:44"^^ . "sxore - identity and reputation in blogging" . "I have recently installed the sxore plugin on this blog, so that you can comment around without being forced to register on each blog you visit. The concept of Identity 2.0 seems very good to me. No big complications, the same identity on each site... no doubt it brings with it the danger of identity-theft (pretty sci-fi, no?), but with the proper security measures, it will be a great step on the emerging Web 2.0." . "2006-06-09T18:27:44"^^ . . . "2006-06-11T22:01:50"^^ . "Balada para un loco..." . "Las tardecitas de Buenos Aires tiene ese qué sé yo, ¿viste?\r\nSalgo de casa por Arenales, lo de siempre en la calle y en mí,\r\ncuando de repente, detrás de ese árbol, se aparece él...\r\n\r\nI incidentally found yet another version of \"Balada para un loco\" (Ferrer/Piazzolla), this time sung by the portuguese artist Dulce Pontes. Well, I must say it's a brilliant piece of music: the sound, the voice, her almost perfect spanish accent... I'm not a fan of Dulce, I confess, but this particular work clearly exceeds the standards." . "2006-06-11T22:01:50"^^ . . . "2006-06-13T11:58:44"^^ . "Ruby vs. Python" . "\"chinese-python-poster.jpg\"\r\n\r\n\"ruby-propaganda-small.png\"\r\n" . "2006-06-13T12:01:55"^^ . . . "2006-06-14T12:10:42"^^ . "FLOSS and Christianity" . "Today, I found an article on Slashdot, about the relation between Open Source and Christianity. It's a curious fact, as I was thinking about writing an article on the matter. The idea of sharing your work with the community, let them improve it and share it with others, and so on and on... is, to my eyes, very similar to the core of christian doctrine. In my opinion, christian organizations should be aware of these questions. Maybe in the future we'll have a real Saint IGNUcius :). Amen...\r\n" . "2006-06-14T12:11:35"^^ . . . "2006-06-20T10:46:04"^^ . "Merche Romero hate site - A business idea" . "Well, according to Google Analytics, i started receiving new visits from google searches like \"merche+romero\" and (shock!) \"merche+romero+hate+sites\", and even \"anti+merche+romero\". Well... who would want to hate Merche Romero? The answer is: a housewives-only terrorist organization. Yes, indeed... well, I can't imagine why would a man desire that to Merche. But a housewife... \"Take this, b*tch! My husband will spend the whole afternoon staring at cheap folk artists, just because of you!\"
Well... a Merche Romero hate site will definitely be a good business idea :).

P.S.: Merche Romero is a famous portuguese tv show presenter... as it seems, she's engaged with the Man. Utd. player Cristiano Ronaldo (yeah, the one that's 52% like me...).
" . "2006-06-20T10:46:05"^^ . . . "2006-06-27T12:37:02"^^ . "Everybody Loves Merche Romero" . "OK, Merche is currently present in the most pervert dreams of portuguese immigrants worldwide. This weblog is the living proof of the previous statement:\r\n\r\n\"Visitors\r\nWell... as you can see, this humble weblog has been visited from locations where strong communities of portuguese immigrants exist (OK, except China...). Well... I think I've been exploring the wrong subject. Who believes I should turn this weblog into a \"Everybody Loves Merche Romero\" site? Opinions please...\r\n" . "2006-06-27T12:37:02"^^ . . . "2006-07-01T19:56:14"^^ . "Portugal 3 - 1 England (penalties)" . "Well, I was never very fond of the english media, but they surprise me day after day. A friend of mine called my attention to the article about the game on the BBC website. Well... if you read the article, you'll end up believing that England controlled the whole game, Rooney is a peaceful guy, C. Ronaldo is evil, and Portugal has an awful playing style. Then, the message board is the apocalypse. Our english folks are known worldwide for being a bit... (how can i say?) \"fanatic\" about football, but i never thought that there were so many orcs among them. Some people just can't lose in a peaceful way...\r\n\r\nThanks God they've won the war... :)\r\n\r\nOh... and by the way...\r\n\r\n\"beef.png\"\r\n\r\n(want a beef?)\r\n\r\nNOTE: Portuguese private joke..." . "2006-07-01T19:56:14"^^ . . . "2006-07-08T17:50:11"^^ . "Monty Python's Philosophy Football Match" . "Now that the World Cup is at its end, it's time for FIFA to think about new challenges.\r\n\r\nJust priceless...\r\n\r\nP.S.: It would be even harder for Portugal to win the cup..." . "2006-07-10T17:09:59"^^ . . . "2006-07-10T18:09:09"^^ . "Thank you, Merche" . "Well, there's a plausible explanation for the recent increase of site visitors. As it looks, Mahound's Weblog is the 6th result on Google (international, not the portuguese one), when you search for \"merche romero\". Well, (unfortunately) this site has nothing to do with Merche, but, anyway, I must thank her for the visitors, although they probably have no interest on most of the topics I post here. Thanks to everyone who helped this day possible, thank you Cristiano, thank you George Harrison, thank you myheritage.com (see this for an explanation).\r\n\r\nWell, it's the beginning of world domination... ladies and gentlemen, get ready ;)." . "2006-07-10T18:14:21"^^ . . . "2006-07-08T00:35:07"^^ . "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Dawkins" . "Yesterday, Tom gave me a link to a Google video, containing the famous two-episode documentary \"The Root of All Evil\", by Richard Dawkins. Coincidence (or not), I'm just reading through Dawkins' \"The Selfish Gene\", a famous book which theorizes about the nature of altruism, among other things.\r\nThe documentary brings nothing new to the masses. Dawkins does not surprise those who know him: he looks to religion as a virus, a dangerous disease that lasts for thousands and thousands of years.\r\nAnalyzing this \"virus\" through the scope of evolution, we may speculate that it's a matter of survival of the fittest: if most of the human beings have that tendency towards religion/superstition, and even considering they are wrong, we must admit that this \"virus\" survived easily among its competitors. Whether it's a \"genetic\" or \"conceptual\" \"virus\", it has managed to survive and grow: the adoption of religion by humans seems to be a benefit. Well, of course religion helps raising anger in some people's hearts. Politics have the same effect... even football has the same effect! Why wouldn't something so important as religion fit as an excuse to kill? OK, it's stupid, I know! But killing someone because of its football team is even more stupid!\r\nHowever, I share some worries with Professor Dawkins... For instance, the growth of religious education in the western world is one of the points that I find really \"frightening\".\r\nEverything else, Professor Dawkins, is exhageration. Religion, superstition and irrational thought are inevitable. I find things that 90% of the world's population believe in just ridiculous... But not everyone has my education... even less people have Richard Dawkins' education... and, yet, we know nothing...\r\n" . "2006-07-10T17:10:52"^^ . . . "2006-07-10T21:35:15"^^ . "A Grrrrrail?" . "Here's a pearl, found at google video. It's a revisit of some of the scenes of \"Monty Python and The Holy Grail\", done in a 3D-rendered VR world, by four students from CMU. There's some additional humour, too :).\r\n" . "2006-07-10T21:35:35"^^ . . . "2006-07-11T20:29:20"^^ . "Syd Barrett (Jan 6th 1946 - Jul 7th 2006)" . "\"Syd\"\r\n\r\n\"[...] \r\n\r\nYou reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.\r\nShine on you crazy diamond.\r\nThreatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.\r\nShine on you crazy diamond.\r\nWell you wore out your welcome with random precision,\r\nrode on the steel breeze.\r\nCome on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter,\r\nyou piper, you prisoner, and shine!\"\r\n
Waters, Gilmour and Wright
" . "2006-07-11T20:29:20"^^ . . . "2006-07-17T20:55:02"^^ . "Congratulations, Cid!" . "\"220.jpeg\"\r\n\r\nJosé Cid is comemorating 40 years of musical career these days. For those who don't know him, he's one of the founders of the portuguese rock music (although some people don't remember that), and the first (if not the only) to introduce progressive rock in the portuguese musical scene. His album, \"10.000 anos depois, entre Vénus e Marte\" (10.000 years after, between Venus and Mars) is recognized worldwide for its wide (and ingenious, I sould say) use of the Mellotron synthesizer. Cid has played the most different musical genres, and is, no doubt, a brilliant musician and a gifted songwriter. As Cid himself admits, he diverted to a pop-like style, in the 80's, seeking success, and a profit that would allow him to pay his bills. Unfortunately, some artists end up writing rubbish due to the pressure of disc labels. Cid was no exception.\r\n\r\nCid's work with Quarteto 1111 (the first portuguese prog rock band) and as a solo musician, is, no doubt, worth our attention. \"Onde, quando, porquê cantamos pessoas vivas\" (Where, when and why we sing living people) is a two-sided (yes, vinyl) epic, based on a poem by José Jorge Letria, and decorated with somewhat-king-crimson riffs and progressive tempo variations.\r\n40 years after (not 10.000), José Cid still sings and plays the keyboard." . "2006-07-23T13:39:25"^^ . . . "2006-07-23T15:25:21"^^ . "\"Vou dar de beber à dor\"" . "Everybody knows (or should know) I'm a fan of fado music (see this, if you don't know it). I accidentally found an youTube clip made with what seems to be some sort of \"The Sims\" game, which resembles one of the greatest hits of fado: \"Vou dar de beber à dor\", from the legendary Amália Rodrigues. The video is very well done, and if you happen to be portuguese, or just know what the song talks about, I bet you'll find it very interesting.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, the author refers to the song as being \"A Casa da Mariquinhas\", a very common mistake, as the song is the sequel to a previous work by Alfredo Marceneiro, whose name was precisely \"A Casa da Mariquinhas\". As a matter of fact, there are plenty of songs about that legendary character called Mariquinhas: \"A Casa da Mariquinhas\", \"O leilão da mariquinhas\", \"Vou dar de beber à dor\", \"Vou dar de beber à alegria\" (a parody to the preceding one), etc...\r\nWell, congratulations to the author. Great piece of work." . "2006-07-23T15:30:05"^^ . . . "2006-08-24T19:21:30"^^ . "Back from Taizé" . "\"taize1.jpg\"\r\n\r\nHere I am, after 16 days away from the technological civilization. The funny thing is that not in a single moment I missed anything similar to a computer. That may seem odd, but I found it very healthy.\r\n\r\nLost in the meadows of Burgundy, France, the small village of Taizé is, since 1940, the home of the community of Taizé, a monastic order unique for its \"culture of the provisory\" a