Last free month

Posted on 30 September 2010 by ajebe

Today starts my last month as a free man because in one month I will be married. The countdown has started and it leaves me with a strange feeling about a strange ritual called matrimony. In one month I will promise to be faithful, although I already am. After this promise we are officially faithful to each other and are expected to spend the rest of our lives this way, although in recent times with some money and a lawyer it is easy to break this faith. Sill, we are confident we’ll be together for a good portion of time, enough to make a commitment.

The ritual is so important it will be celebrated by our families, friends and acquaintances. In fact there are entire industries relying on this ritual and providing every service you can think of, naturally for a good price. I send it is a strange situation what almost seems un real… a strange dream where you are working and looking forward to something for months… a big party and for what exactly? A ritual that really does not mean so much.

Still, we hope for a good party and afterwards… we’ll see. This month of freedom will undoubtedly be the same as the months to follow, so there is no need to sowing my wild oats. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with having some good old fun.

Coin issues

Posted on 23 September 2010 by ajebe

Gold coin! They are doing it again! The royal Dutch mint has decided to sell a new set of coins. Coins that used to be legal tender will be created again just like that. This time it is not a set of various normal coins, but that are going to recreate a set of gold coins.

This recreation is made using the original stamps and using the exact same specifications and the exact same gold content as the original coin. Today the original coin has a list price of € 1600,-. You can obtain this recreation for € 199,-. With this exact recreation you will be the owner of the very first Dutch golden 5 guilder coin. A very special recreation that should not be missing in your collection.

The coins seem to be identical to the original, with the only difference that they will appear a lot newer. I think it is incredible that an official body as the KNM is allowed to produce and sell these coins for just 10% of the catalog value. Am I really the only person worried that the original coins will drop in value fast, because any normal person will be unable to tell the difference between the original and the recreation in 20 years.

By the way, what is stopping me to by myself an old coin press and create my own old Dutch guilders. Under the pretext that it might be interesting for collectors. I can then sell these coins for 90% of their catalog value. That in the future collectors can no longer have confidence in any Dutch guilder I will just take for granted.

Update:
My paranoia was partly unjustified. When I checked with the KNM it turned out that:

The difference between the original and the reproduction is shown by an “R” that is added to each reproduction.

Smoked sausage

Posted on 21 September 2010 by ajebe

Smoked sausage! It is only one month more to our wedding date. The big day is approaching fast and we can notice the stress accumulating slowly but surely. I have selected and bough a nice suit and here are ~~just a few~~ still quite a lot of details that need our attention. The final selection of the menu, the rings, the music, some small details like cufflinks and a belt, the little pillow for the rings, the setup of the tables for the dinner, calling friends and family to get the final confirmations, translating the plan for the day to have it available in both Spanish and Dutch, translating the menu, finding little thank-you presents, etc. etc.

It is still pretty manageable. The annoying thing it that then suddenly all plans can make a turn for the worst. I received two delicious smoked sausages!! Really fantastic of course, and in the stressful time it offers the perfect way to relax and wind down by eating a very tasty Dutch smoked sausage. Sadly it was not meant to be. Enclosed with the sausage I found some instructions stating that we had to wait before eating the sausage. Oh NOOOO! For sure there is some reason to it, and I’m curious to find out. For now I’ll attempt to not eat the sausage.

Koffie ritueel

Posted on 30 August 2010 by ajebe

Kopje koffie! Hoe drink en geniet je maximaal van een kopje koffie? Dit is natuurlijk een erg persoonlijke aangelegenheid, maar ik kreeg een goede tip van een italiaan, en italianen zijn serieus met koffie, dus hierbij de tip.

Stap 1. Bestel naast je bakje koffie altijd een glaasje water. Drink eerst het water totdat je ongeveer 1 cm water in je glaasje over houdt. Je drink het glas water om de mond goed te spoelen, en allerlei mogelijke smaken te verwijderen. Hierdoor kan je beter genieten van de koffie doordat de smaak van de koffe meer tot zijn recht komt.
Stap 2. Geniet van de koffie.
Stap 3. Drink het laatste beetje water. Dit doe je om te voorkomen dat je tanden verkleuren door de koffie. Het is echter maar een klein beetje water, dus de koffie smaak verdwijnt niet volledig.

Geniet, maar drink met mate!

Becoming an Android developer

Posted on 25 August 2010 by ajebe

Android developer! For my upcoming Android game I’m going through quite some new experiences. Although I have been a software developer for over 15 years, this was the first time I created software for an Android phone. Also this was the first time I used graphics make by real designers for one of my privately developed applications.

Appinventor
Somehow my attention was drawn to a new feature which was being offered by Google. The appinventor. You needed to complete an online application form to get access, which I did, and a few weeks later I received an email that I was granted access. After this I started playing around with the tutorial, the example apps and the Android emulator. The appinventor itself was very easy to use. It reminded me of the tool that was supplied by Lego with their Mindstorm set a lot of years ago. The appinventor consists out of three parts:

Appinventor. This is where you select the functional items that your application will have. You define textareas, labels, buttons, add graphics, set alignment, font sizes, etc.
Block Editor. From the appinventor you can start the block editor. Here you see all available programming, and you can use this to define variables, procedures, loops, etc. The entire process of creating the logic for your application you do here, in the Block Editor using drag and drop. After you get used to the concept it is very easy.
Emulator. From the block editor you can send your program to a connected Android phone, or to the emulator, and test to see how it will work.

Images
In an early stage I was thinking about how to make a game that would be appealing to play, but which also would not require a lot of time. Still, I wanted it to be a game that people would like to play over time. It was easy to think about how I would like to see a nice and easy game, and it was clear I do not possess the ability to create nice graphics. I went to search online and found some images I like on the fasticon.com website. I needed to pay around 20€ to be able to use a number of icons I liked, without risk of legal problems. The images looked very professional, and they fit perfectly in the game I had in my mind. 20€ sounded like a good deal, and I was hoping I would somehow get the money back selling the game online.

Developer account
For publishing my app on the Android market I needed to create a developer account. This set me back another 20€ and I needed to register my credit card details, my bank details and a lot of personal data…. a bit tricky but after a small evaluation I thought it was worth it. This meant that I was now able to publish as many apps as I liked, and maybe my game would sell enough to get this investment back, although I doubt this.

Android

Posted on 24 August 2010 by ajebe

Times are changing fast. Mobile phones are turning into small computers, and computers are turning into access points to access the internet. The internet seems to be the place where everything is happening.

In the past you used to work with your software on your own pc, now slowly everything is moving online, where your data and programs can be accessed where-ever, when-ever and how-ever you like, using a pc, a phone, a pad, or what-ever else. A similar trend is visible in hardware. In the past you needed special equipment for a lot of functions.

To make a call (phone),
for giving driving directions (tomtom or other navigation system),
for reading digital books (e-reader),
to wake you up in the morning (alarm clock),
to play a game (nintendo ds, sega dreamcast, sony playstation, microsoft xbox, etc.),
for knowing the time (watch),
for knowing your location (global positioning system (gps) or compass)
etc.

All these functions are now more and more available online, and you only need to select the size and setup of a single machine to access these functions. This is a great improvement in flexibility for working with and enjoying or consuming ‘information’.

This change affects all of us, and it will effect us even more in the future. People are changing fast, and their needs for data and connectivity are changing with them.

I have started developing for Android, with the recently launched appinventor by Google. It is strange to see that technology is getting more and more complex but for developers things are getting much more simple (although also a bit less flexible). The appinventor is an easy way to construct an application for an Android mobile phone. All the development is done online, and if you want you can download the result to your PC. This means I can start work on one PC and continue on another one, without the need to install anything.

Although there are still some inconveniences I think this is a real step ahead. One of the next steps hopefully will include much better interoperability, where an app created for Android can just as easily be used on a different phone or a PC, or embedded in a website. Soon I hope to publish my first app here, on Leiden365.nl.

Pusher

Posted on 18 August 2010 by ajebe

Pusher! Een ‘pusher’ is een machine die je vaak op kermissen tegenkomt. Je gooit er flink wat muntjes in en die vallen eerst op een plateautje. Hierna worden de muntjes door een schuif van het plateau afgeschoven, en vallen op een verzamelplaat. Hier vallen steeds meer muntjes op, totdat er teveel op leggen en ze van de machine afvallen, zo in je zak.

Recent heb ik een instructie gevonden hoe je zelf een ‘pusher’ kan maken. Een uitdaging en een manier om veel geld te besparen (je hoeft niet meer op de kermis te spelen). Bijkomend voordeel is dat het er niet eens zo moeilijk uit ziet. Eigenlijk is de hele constructie alleen maar een heen en weer bewegend laatje.

Mijn plan is om eerst het heen en weer bewegende laatje te maken en de rest is dan eenvoudig. Voor het laatje heb ik nodig:

Motortje
Aan en uit switch
Een connectie met het stopcontact
‘Laatje’ met een schuifmechanisme waardoor het ‘laatje’ makkelijk heen en weer kan bewegen

Theophilus London

Posted on 18 August 2010 by ajebe

Theophilus London! Muziek is en blijft een van de beste uitvindingen die de mensheid ooit heeft verzonnen. En muziek is ook een van de meest aan verandering onderhevinge kunst vorm. Er zijn extreem veel verschillende type muziek, heel veel instrumenten, en ieder jaar komt er wel een nieuw genre bij.

Ook muziek distributie is aan veel vernieuwing onderhevig en het aanbieden van een gratis download is een nieuwe stap. Zo heeft Theophilus London al zijn albums gratis beschikbaar op zijn website. Klinkt goed!

The Cove

Posted on 16 August 2010 by ajebe

Dolfijn! Recent heb ik de film ‘The Cove‘ gezien. Een indrukwekkende documentaire over het vangen van dolfijnen voor dolfijn-shows over de hele wereld, en de rest wordt afgeslacht door de japanners om als voedsel te dienen.

De film licht twee vreemde aspecten toe in dit verhaal. De dolfijnen die moeten optreden kunnen dit alleen volhouden als ze voorzien worden van flinke hoeveelheden medicijnen. Zelfs met medicijnen houden ze het niet lang vol, en moeten er geregeld dolfijnen worden vervangen door nieuwe.

De dolfijnen die worden afgeslacht zijn weleenswaar om op te eten, maar het dolfijnenvlees kunnen ze niet als zodanig verkopen. In Japan wordt het verkocht als vlees van andere type vis. Nadeel van dolfijnenvlees is ook dat er een gevaarlijk hoge hoeveelheid metalen in zit.

Een mooie film waar je beter niet heen kan gaan als je niet tegen dolfijnenbloed kan. Af en toe was het wel een beetje overdreven allemaal, tot huilende vrouwen aan toe. Het resultaat is wel dat ik voortaan parken met dolfijnenshows zal gaan vermijden.

Pencil art

Posted on 10 August 2010 by ajebe

Pencil sculpture! Wow, what an impressive piece of art. A pencil where the top part is converted to a little miniature statue. A very delicate job to make such small details.

I think I’ll go and give it a try myself. I think you can get a long way using a few needles, a mini screwdriver and a sharp little knife. I just need to find a nice big pencil that is easy to manage and then I should be able to make some reasonably looking mini statue/shape/sculpture.