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<whitequark>
that's why everything tastes like chicken...
<wpwrak>
no, that's because there's not enough glutamate on your food ;-))
<whitequark>
huh. a truck with 19 ton (sic) of latex gloves was stolen from FSB [a Russian federal security service]
<wpwrak>
do you worry more about what will happen to them now or more that the FSB needed them in the first place ?
<whitequark>
I worry more about how to move, like, several thousand kilometers to the southeast
<DocScrutinizer>
again, I'm not paranoid and I don't feel any discomfort regarding acting the way I do - but the fact some of you now think I'd be paranoid actually is exactly in line with my little game, which makes me smile :-)
* whitequark
looks up "paranoid" in the dictionary
<whitequark>
ah, got it. you do not suffer from that, you enjoy it
<wpwrak>
whitequark: africa or australia ?
<whitequark>
wpwrak: australia
<DocScrutinizer>
yes, I actually enjoy playing games with the "powers that be", and sometimes maybe also with you :-D
<whitequark>
wpwrak: I'd prefer somewhere closer to Jupiter orbit, but there are no kittens on jupiter. How'd I live without kittens.
<DocScrutinizer>
seems I stated that before
<wpwrak>
whitequark: ah, any concrete plans (for .au) ?
<whitequark>
DocScrutinizer: I don't recall, but it's kinda obvious
<whitequark>
wpwrak: yes. 1) get a university degree
<wpwrak>
whitequark: (jupiter) maybe with the help of the monoliths ... ?
<whitequark>
no way witout it
<wpwrak>
i see. long-term planning :)
<whitequark>
2) become someone who will be useful enough for a potential employer to pay for relocation
<whitequark>
and etc.
<whitequark>
that's not going to happen within the next few years, which is not surprising, given my age
* whitequark
looks at DocScrutinizer and shuts up
<wpwrak>
1b) marry into a russian mafia family, so that you get the financial resources for ...
<wpwrak>
2b) conversion into a kangaroo. then you'll pass as native :)
<whitequark>
getting away from anything even loosely related to "russian" things (that is, as percieved by people from other countries) is the task 0).
<wpwrak>
;-))
<wpwrak>
ah, condemned to a life of denying your origin. and already at such a tender age. how tragic ...
* whitequark
writes that down to his collection of pathetic English statements
<wpwrak>
(-:C
<whitequark>
you don't even remotely know how hard it is to write something really pathetic for a foreigner
<wpwrak>
foreigner ?
<whitequark>
as for language
<wpwrak>
oh, english isn't my first language either
<whitequark>
hm
<whitequark>
have you ever talked to native speakers? I did not
<wpwrak>
although i sometimes fool people. when writing. my accent gives it away, though :)
<wpwrak>
(native speakers) yes, of course
<whitequark>
I know some people on IRC. mostly on #qi-hw channel. that's it
<whitequark>
of course I read a lot in English, but that's mostly technical articles
<whitequark>
while there definitely are some quite pathetic phrases, they are not that widespread
<wpwrak>
so your spoken in english will be horrible. well, don't worry :)
<whitequark>
I think my written english is quite horrible, too
<whitequark>
spoken is at roughly same degree of horribleness, according to my teacher
<wpwrak>
naw, it's your written english is good
<DocScrutinizer>
strange enough, on a flight back from TPE the Taiwanese lady seated next to me started some smalltalk with me, and she guessed I must be an American
<wpwrak>
.. while mine visibly declines after dinner with beer :-(
<wpwrak>
DocScrutinizer: must have been the eyes :)
<DocScrutinizer>
hers or mine? :-D
<wpwrak>
DocScrutinizer: hmm. advice for ladies: "don't wear glasses on a date. you'll look better. and he, too."
<whitequark>
lol
* whitequark
has an err... impaired vision he does not know how to measure in this weird american units, but he does not wear any glasses... because he's too lazy to get a pair
<wpwrak>
then the impairment probably isn't too bad yet
<wpwrak>
and most of the world doesn't use american units :)
<whitequark>
I don't clearly see 11pt font on 96dpi 15" display
<whitequark>
hm
<whitequark>
then it's -3 dioptries.
<wpwrak>
myopia ? astigmatism ?
<whitequark>
myopia, yes
<wpwrak>
ah, unavoidable for bookish people
<wpwrak>
-3 is significant. if you don't like glasses, you ought to try lenses.
<wpwrak>
i suppose you don't drive
<whitequark>
on the other hand, while I'm unable to recognize people by faces (I think there's a medical condition for that), this way I taught myself to recognize people by figure, style of clothes, voice parameters and, to a lesser degree, walking
<whitequark>
wpwrak: (bookish) probably, this is a result of using a CRT monitor for ~2 years when I was ~12-14 (don't remember that precisely)
<whitequark>
at least it stopped to decrease after I switched to LCD
<whitequark>
mostly
<whitequark>
yes, I don't drive
<whitequark>
it does not help you much here in Moscow. traffic jams are more a normal condition here.
<wpwrak>
funny. might be one of the many shades of the autistic complex (complex = collection of ailments)
<whitequark>
i.e. if it's a day and you don't stay in one, then some disaster happened
<wpwrak>
(myopia) naw, it's not caused by your display. more likely, the progression simply reached its stable point.
<whitequark>
(autistic) yeah, maybe. I'm not that autistic as some of geeks around are (no problems with communication with people I don't know, etc.), but there's something in that version that may be true
<whitequark>
(myopia) that's what everyone except my parents say. I think the truth is out here :D
<wpwrak>
autistic elements in behavioural patterns are strongly correlated with the skills required for the sort of engineering work common in IT. so ... :)
<wpwrak>
you'll need glasses at university
<whitequark>
(phrase about autistic elements) I don't know if it does sound just as technical and, er, non-smalltalkish in English, but when I pronounce these kinds of verbal patterns, I'm often told that I am a bore :D
<wpwrak>
distances are too large there to do without them at your correction. you may be able to copy from others for a while but eventually it'll get too cimbersome
<whitequark>
(university) there are problems much worse with that
<wpwrak>
and with lenses being an convenient and affordable option today, it's not much trouble anyway
<wpwrak>
(bore) well, imagine mr. spock at a party, but without the pointy ears :)
<wpwrak>
social skills can also be emulated. takes a while to learn that, though.
<whitequark>
(university) when I said I need a degree, I meant that I need it for australian's migration service, not much for myself. I don't know if that's just me (everyone I know seem to settle on the same conclusion), but just by taking classes thoroughfully you won't get much knowledge and/or skills useful for your future work. better talk to all of those clever people in the next building, and pass the exams by the usual way students do--of cou
<whitequark>
shit. ircd. se I mean working hardly through the entire semester.
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<wpwrak>
university teaches you how to learn. it's not so much about the actual knowledge.
<wpwrak>
plus, it may give you some freedom to explore. depends a bit on how they work.
<whitequark>
sometimes the way they try to teach you is just plain wrong
<wpwrak>
oh, sure. but some things will stick nevertheless.
<whitequark>
well, that's how I failed math
<whitequark>
several times
<wpwrak>
besides, you're not motivated to learn most of that they tell you, because you don't have any immediate use
<whitequark>
maybe it's not wrong per se -- it may be just unsuitable for me, personally
<wpwrak>
it's part of an experience :)
<whitequark>
(freedom to explore) depends on the university. I was at Bioengineering and Bioinformatics of MSU
<whitequark>
that's a not-so-short story
<whitequark>
(and I'm barely able to translate it. I'll try, through)
<whitequark>
bbiab
<wpwrak>
(explore) some run a very school-like shop. lots of exams, etc. that limits what you can do. bioengineering may expose you to enough new things that you won't mind, though.
<wpwrak>
of you take a route that's closer to what you already know, then frequent exams are a nuisance. of course, eventually you learn how to pass them with the minimum amount of preparation, too :)
<whitequark>
yes, there was a lot of good things, and a lot of things which the teachers didn't care about explaining in a way that you won't need to memorize all of that blindly
<whitequark>
which I just cannot do
<whitequark>
that was mostly math. the teachers themselves were really good, and I enjoyed discussing some nontrivial problems with them
<whitequark>
I think that's just the course which was passed from some higher level braindead department
<wpwrak>
memorizing things may be a question of structuring them
<whitequark>
if you have enough information to structure them, yes
<whitequark>
and not just a heap of facts which are there because you'll need them a year after
<wpwrak>
or relying on short-term memory, before the exams :)
<wpwrak>
no ... structure them such that you can retrieve that information for a few hours. not finding a logical structure. that comes later.
<wpwrak>
e.g., learn the night before the exam. repeat things on the bus. then most of it will still be around.
<whitequark>
well, anyway. after I got enough of that and also discovered that if I really need that particular part of math for something I'm able to understand better it in 1/10th of time, I decided to quit--bioengineering is defintiely not what I want to "do my entire life" and go to some kind of university where you don't actually need to learn something if you don't want to. i.e. 99% of russian ones (sadly, I think).
<whitequark>
I'll still try to find one where you have someone to talk to if you actually want to learn.
<whitequark>
(I can still go to MSU if I want.)
<wpwrak>
there should be someone at most of them
<whitequark>
you'd be surprised if you know :(
<whitequark>
USSR's education was maybe not perfect, but one of the best in the world. if not best.
<wpwrak>
naw, people may get despondent, but many had some ideals in their past
<whitequark>
it's destroyed now, almost completely
<wpwrak>
see. so some good people must still be around
<whitequark>
in all the ways you could imagine
<whitequark>
I mean
<whitequark>
in 98% of them you pass the exams by paying enough money
<whitequark>
somewhere like $100-$150 per one
<whitequark>
whether it is possible to pass by having actual knowledge is highly dependent
<whitequark>
on the particular one
<wpwrak>
ah, the joy of privatized education :)
<whitequark>
it is not
<whitequark>
at least formally
<wpwrak>
;-)
<wpwrak>
the miraculous power of bakshish then :)
<whitequark>
there's already not enough engineers in the country to run the stuff we already have
<whitequark>
and, er, most of uni graduates are economists
<whitequark>
and lawyers
<whitequark>
and most of the engineers who are staying there are, well, USSR engineers
<wpwrak>
there must be some parasitologists as well, to keep count :)
<whitequark>
and they solve the problems in a very USSR way
<whitequark>
for example
<whitequark>
I know a company which makes sonic fish-finders
<whitequark>
the head engineer of it cannot read English, but is forced to use western uCs, as there are almost no Soviet ones around
<wpwrak>
in russia, dynamite finds fish ? :)
<whitequark>
so he just picks the first schematic in the datasheet
<whitequark>
I mean, seriously
<whitequark>
he designs his circuits that way
<whitequark>
also, he is afraid of CPUs
<wpwrak>
:)
<whitequark>
and he uses russian-made LDOs
<whitequark>
they spontaneously fail in ~a month
<whitequark>
they not only explode, but also fail short, exploding everything that's after them
<whitequark>
or there are LCD's (HD44700-like)
<wpwrak>
nastrovje ! :)
<whitequark>
if you pull contrast to the end of its operating range (still within it), they will die
<whitequark>
they will also die spontaneously
<wpwrak>
a few more years and he'll be gone, too
<whitequark>
"nastrovje"? err... is that a Google Translate error? I don't know such a word
<wpwrak>
of course, his successor will read perfect english but won't understand the chinese data sheets
<whitequark>
(be gone) yes, given the amount of vodka he drinks. and this is not a joke, unfortunately
<wpwrak>
"cheers" in russian ?
<whitequark>
mhm
<whitequark>
if I understand what you meant, that would be more "na zdorovje!"
<whitequark>
and I think you picked up the wrong translation variant anyway :)
<wpwrak>
ah, interesting :) it made it as a single word through the iron curtain
<wpwrak>
or maybe from there to the rest of the west
<wpwrak>
at least the not overly educated part of it
<whitequark>
that is a toast (not the bread one, you know)
<wpwrak>
yeah :)
<whitequark>
ok
<wpwrak>
like "cheers"
<whitequark>
for "cheers", my dictionary lists 4 variants: that toast, "congrats" [sarcastically], "thanks" (Brit.), "bye" (Brit.")
<whitequark>
and I'm not sure if I ever seen the word "cheers" in the wild, so...
<whitequark>
linguistic issues ftw!
<whitequark>
my friend works with that sonar company, because, hm
<whitequark>
never seen a webinar before. I wonder how useful it will turn out to be
<wpwrak>
i never tried :)
* kristianpaul
always get late to wemiars
<whitequark>
oh that will be a problem
<kristianpaul>
s/wemiars/webinar
<whitequark>
it's 9AM MSK
<wpwrak>
if it's useful, it'll be good to know it is. if not, as well, of course :)
<kristianpaul>
and at lack of interest too :)
<whitequark>
... I will just say one thing. there's a pharmacy in my house. for two months straight, I was not able to come in, as it was "always closed"
<whitequark>
turned out that it is open 9-21
<wpwrak>
9 am ? in russia, no alarm clocks ?
<whitequark>
wpwrak: I am alarm-deficient
<whitequark>
no matter how hard will you (or some clocky thing) to wake me up, I won't
<whitequark>
if that'd be a clock which can be turned off, it will be somehow turned off
<whitequark>
and I probably won't even remember that
<wpwrak>
keep trying. you'll find one :)
<whitequark>
well
<wpwrak>
cell phones work great
<whitequark>
if something really fucking serious will be tomorrow, then I'll wake up by myself, with less than minute precision
<whitequark>
so I figure out that I have very good internal clock
<kristianpaul>
wpwrak: cell phones, indeed !
<wpwrak>
yup, never underestimate the internal clock
<whitequark>
cell phones do not work
<whitequark>
they have an "turn it off" key
<kristianpaul>
actually thats my only excuse to still having one ;-)
<kristianpaul>
other alarm clocks, failed..
<whitequark>
and this key is not buried deep in the UI like the Facebook account deletion button
<whitequark>
it should.
<wpwrak>
the one i had before my current one was about 3x4 cm. when the alarm rand, the sound pressure alone threw you out of bed
<whitequark>
how much wall collisions could it stand?
<wpwrak>
my current one is more gentle. it still wakes me from two rooms away, though
<whitequark>
then you're an easy person to awake
<whitequark>
most often people fail to wake me up, too
<whitequark>
I can stand up and say "ok, I'm awake"
<wpwrak>
do they try water ? :)
<whitequark>
half a hour later I'm mysteriously back in bed and don't remember that
<whitequark>
and by saying "I don't remember" I mean just that. No memories.
<whitequark>
(water) too much stress for everyday use
<wpwrak>
set you internal clock and you;ll be fine
<whitequark>
the problem is
<whitequark>
it disregards as "nonimportant" everything that is less than, hm
<whitequark>
whatever was last time...
<wpwrak>
vodka then. easier to get in russia anyway :) add matches if really necessary
<whitequark>
I don't quite remember. A long-awaited date? iirc I slept through that.
<whitequark>
vodka? ahem. how is that supposed to wake me up?
<wpwrak>
most of the people returning to sleep easily make the mistake of assuming the ones trying to wake up won't try to kill them :)
<wpwrak>
just as a solvent. and fire accelerator :)
<whitequark>
heh
<whitequark>
actually, it's such a problem that I prefer to stay awake at night (with all the consequences to clearness of mind, yes) if I have something relatively important
<whitequark>
then, add coffee
<wpwrak>
ask DocScrutinizer about his "rude wakeup call", even without much external help. i think he'll agree that his got his juices flowing :)
<whitequark>
and redbull
<whitequark>
maybe mixed
<whitequark>
DocScrutinizer: can't wait to hear about that! :D
<whitequark>
it sounds promising. and scary a bit
<wpwrak>
maybe connect you alarm clock to a bowl full of animals you resent. worms, spiders, scorpions, whatever
<whitequark>
is that legal under Geneva convention?
<wpwrak>
it's both :)
<whitequark>
mhm
<whitequark>
I think that'd be an easy way for me to stop being afraid of that kind of animals
<whitequark>
worms? nope, they're just disgusting a bit
<wpwrak>
spiders ?
<wpwrak>
snakes perhaps ?
<whitequark>
spiders and scorpions? very well maybe, but I doubt that's a good idea, apart from the task of finding a bowl of spiders
<whitequark>
oh, snaaaakes
<whitequark>
I love them
<wpwrak>
rats ?
<whitequark>
a snake feels just like a rigid garden hose (those with water). quite a pleasant sensation
<whitequark>
they're also muscular
<whitequark>
yes, like a muscular host
<whitequark>
*hose
<wpwrak>
liquid nitrogen ?
<whitequark>
(rats) nice little creations
<whitequark>
hm
<whitequark>
that'd be very one time solution
<whitequark>
through gathering liquid nitrogen isn't much of a problem
<whitequark>
so I might try that sometimes
<wpwrak>
a bowl of boiling nitroglycerine, being slowly titled. so you have to roll out of harm's way quickly enough.
<whitequark>
er
<whitequark>
do you know how nitroglycerine works?
<wpwrak>
without alarm. so you only warning will be the squeaking of the mechanism tiling the bowl.
<whitequark>
lightly pinch a bowl with a finger. watch your finger flying away.
<wpwrak>
that's the idea :)
<whitequark>
(squeaking) I'm sometimes much of a perfectionist
<whitequark>
that machine won't squiek
<whitequark>
squeak
<whitequark>
shriek.
<whitequark>
oh! I know
<whitequark>
I need a pet shrieker
<wpwrak>
no, that's part of the design. makes sure you subconsciousness won't sleep
<whitequark>
they've asked me if I'm in Europe and if yes, what's my phone number
<whitequark>
no, it's on Feb 8
<whitequark>
and btw it's 2 hours to 9 am ::)
<whitequark>
I provided them my real phone number, just out of curiosity
<whitequark>
will I receive some EE SMS spam?
<whitequark>
if yes, from what country will it originate?..
<pabs3>
whitequark: the data for that Google public transport routing is all public, anyone could download all the indicies and implement routing: https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/
<whitequark>
pabs3: oh, interesting! so Google's not that evil as I thought
<whitequark>
I wonder if any OSM navigators can read that
<zrafa>
The post on the blog does not have the list part. And the author did not give it. But he gave some pictures and pdfs (schematic, layout, final board etc..). So. My first question:
<zrafa>
schematic and layout show a resitor 680. I checked the pictures and it is a resistor on surface. Then I checked digikey.. And I found at least two, but I do not know which of them should be the correct one:
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<wpwrak>
ah yes, heard of that. so pathetic, that world of closed source :)
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* whitequark
has ignored wpwrak and bought that.
<whitequark>
mind you, not every app on this planet must be OSS
* jow_laptop
likes Osmos
* larsc
played osmos before it was cool ;)
* C-Keen
too
* jow_laptop
didn't know its "cool" already
<C-Keen>
it has been part of a humble bundle several times
<jow_laptop>
yeah, I got it with the first one
<jow_laptop>
or the first one that included it (?) - don't recall
<jow_laptop>
anyway, doesn't change the fact that I still like it :) very relaxing
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<whitequark>
world of goo is niiice
<mth>
it would be nice if more games would use the open source, closed data model instead of closed source, closed data
<mth>
then you'd can play your games in the future and on other devices, without them having to give everything away
<mth>
-'d
<viric>
wpwrak: I'm with you, about the closed source :)
<LunaVorax>
wpwrak, mth, I agree with you, but so far, that's one of the first step to bring some games to GNU/Linux. Sources will came after.
<LunaVorax>
Besides, the Humble Indie Bundle do release the source fot the game they sells sometimes.
<viric>
first?
<viric>
there were the loki times
<LunaVorax>
I said one of because of that yes
<viric>
ah ok
<LunaVorax>
Still I don't think as much people have heard about Loki as people who have heard about the HIB
<LunaVorax>
This sadly reminds me a lot of people don't switch to Linux sometimes only because of gaming. Like if freedom was no big deal.
<LunaVorax>
Actually, I went throu a "what's the point" phase at the moment.
<mth>
I originally switched to Linux because it was more stable than Win9x
<mth>
I only started to appreciate open source later
<LunaVorax>
'cause half of my family have Macbooks (and Apple iStuffs) "because it's so easy to use" and I didn't saw myself explaining that it was restrictive technology in front of 5~6 conservative (understand pro-corporate) iFans.
<mth>
OS X is not nearly as restrictive as iOS though
<LunaVorax>
mth, it was the same for me but it came all at once, I was curious about computers and always tweaking everything.
<LunaVorax>
mth, it still isn't really that nice
<LunaVorax>
I'm not a specialist on the subject, but I'm pretty sure it's not super nice about privacy either (I mean collecting datas)
<mth>
I don't think it collects any data unless you tell it so
<LunaVorax>
But the main problem of iOS devices imho is that they are designed to be replaced whenever you like it or not
<LunaVorax>
Since Apple stops to update old devices so you need to buy a new one to get the latest features.
<LunaVorax>
And if you want something else (Android) you got to void the waranty (and yet the Android port isn't really great yet)
<mth>
Apple does support their old devices for a longer time than most Android vendors though
<mth>
the main problem I have with iOS is that the user cannot allow additional app stores
<LunaVorax>
Still that's not really an excuse about the problem
<LunaVorax>
Also yeah
<mth>
I mean the "no updates" problem is industry-wide, it's not specific to Apple
<mth>
it is certainly a problem though
<LunaVorax>
Yep
<LunaVorax>
People often tend to ridiculize me by saying they live in the future and me in the past for using "old hardware" but stangely, my wallet refuses to live in the future as well :P
<mth>
I understand that manufacturers don't want to support old hardware forever, but they declare it "old" very soon and most of them don't give others the means to provide support instead
<viric>
do you think apple devices switch off, when told to?
<viric>
you can't take out the battery :)
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<DocScrutinizer>
well, I heard the modem doesn't (switch off)
<larsc>
powered by nuclear fusion
<whitequark>
huh
<whitequark>
one of the games in the bundle is very acidic.
<whitequark>
in any of the meanings.
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<wpwrak>
acid is good. it etches out pcbs :)
<whitequark>
this particular kind of acid has etched the brains of the developers, and now it indeed etches my brain and eyes
<whitequark>
well
<whitequark>
it's a game where you have a dark background, on which there is freakin bright flickering rgb cube, which is rolling around in an impossible fashion with funky sounds
<whitequark>
and they have some interesting soundtracks
<whitequark>
most of them are quite good, but one, for example, closely represents the sounds which cats often produce in heat
<whitequark>
_very_ closely
<whitequark>
hm
<whitequark>
actually, all of them are quite good.
<whitequark>
as per the gameplay... at the current moment, I am a small flickering cube which rolls up the vertical surface near a giant cube robot