Pragmatic Geek Father

I hope that's a baby doll.

Anyway, if you have an old linux box you can improvise a baby rocker in just a minute. Remote control and web-cam supervision can be added. This could be the future linux nanny.

P.S.: How geek can you be to do this?

[Link] Bucureștiul Vechi

http://www.muzeuldefotografie.ro/2009/08/bucuresti-in-epoca-de-aur/

[Link] A Game Developer Drama: Dirty Coding Tricks

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4111/dirty_coding_tricks.php

2 Geek Comics

I've found another web comic for geeks, I'll put two of them here to open your appetite:

[Link] www.my25percent.com/

[Link] Nice and Simple VPN Tutorial

http://www.linuxconfig.org/VPN_-_Virtual_Private_Network_and_OpenVPN

[Link] Sixth Sense from MIT Labs

http://cavemansblog.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/sixth-sense-from-mit-labs/

[Link] Ksplice: Update Computers Without Rebooting

http://www.ksplice.com/doc/ksplice.pdf
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/ksplice-is-like-viagra-for-linux-server-uptime.ars

[Link] Google Squared

http://www.google.com/squared/

Bacterial Computer is Not a Computer

The scientists in the field of micro cellular biology and mathematics managed to build a "computer" using bacteria. To be more precise E. coli bacteria.

There was a lot of fuss on the web about this subject but I found no real academic comment about this break through (as they call it).

As I see it, there is no real break through at all, it's genetic algorithms implemented in real genetic material. Clearly you must be a genius to think that genetic algorithms could work if implemented in real genetic material instead of a silicon based computer :)

The computer works like this: you encode the problem in the genetic material of bacteria, you encode the solution detector and then leave the bacteria to multiply. When the solution is found the solution detector will highlight the colony that found the solution. Then sequence the bacteria DNA and get the solution.

All these could take a while, so I don't think that this "computer" could provide you a valid solution faster than a real computer for a NP complete problem.

It's still unclear to me how they managed to realize the solution detector but undoubtedly this is a good start point for organic computers.

Imagine how a computer virus and anti-virus looks like for a future bacterial computer :)

You can read the abstract for more information about "Solving a Hamiltonian Path Problem with a bacterial computer".

How to Lose 4 Kg in 4 Days Moving Only Your Fingers

I know I'm not skinny :) and surely I'll lose 20Kg this summer but I've found the secret of losing weight rapidly and effortless. I'll call it:

"Code Therapy - 6000 LOC in 4 days" © Seneka.

The secret is too get yourself involved in a time consuming project (like a bachelor dedegree) and don't do anything for it. One week before the deadline start coding like you never did before. For me it worked like this (4 days program):

• Day 1: wake up, realize you're in deep shit, start coding, write and test about 2000 LOC (lines of code), go to bed;
• Day 2: wake up, realize that you're still in a deep shit, start coding, write about 2750 LOC, go to bed;
• Day 3: wake up, realize that you're half way through, start coding, test the lines you wrote tha day before, delete about 50% of the code you wrote, refactor the rest, write another 1000 LOC, go to bed;
• Day 4: wake up, realize that you wrote a fucking big application in 3 days, try to remember all its functionality, test it, do some minor bug fixes, drink 4 beers and go to bed;

After these 4 days the adrenaline rush disappears and you'll realize that is time to eat something because your stomach forgot how food looks like.

The result in my case was obvious 102 Kg --> 98 Kg.

DISCLAIMER: Do not try this at home (or at work place), starvation can cause severe health problems (permanent problems). I'm not responsible for any damage you suffered in case you follow this therapy (because you're a bigger idiot than I am). In case you are convinced that this is a solution to your problems see a doctor before (to be read as "see a shrink").

Happy coding!