Brussels demands that governments in Europe and particularly in the Euro zone to adopt austerity measures to bring down national deficits to `manageable levels`.
What if instead our Governments do the right thing and instead of turning on us, they turn on those greedy people in Brussels? Why don't they do the right thing and cut the funds to all MEPs and all EU institutions?
All this EU funding issue is turning back on us and we are all footing the bill. Funding is the lifeline of those greedy people at Brussels/Strasbourg. Promoting EU funds is guaranteeing a bountiful future for Brussels & Co. while handing us a piece of the (rotten) carrot.
You represent us and not Brussels & Co.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Greed.
Greed is the reason why communism failed and so did capitalism. Greed is why Osama Bin Laden won and the west actually lost.
Soon after the twin towers fell down, corporate greed took over and the world has not yet recovered.
All the famous revolutionaries thought to combat for one ideology against the corruption of the others' idealogical. They were effectively waging war against greed which then engulfed them and revolutionaries such as Castro, and Mao became part of these greed and kept on clinging to the seat of power.
Soon after the twin towers fell down, corporate greed took over and the world has not yet recovered.
All the famous revolutionaries thought to combat for one ideology against the corruption of the others' idealogical. They were effectively waging war against greed which then engulfed them and revolutionaries such as Castro, and Mao became part of these greed and kept on clinging to the seat of power.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Which route planner.
I clicked the same route on various route planners available online and almost all gave different results. Here's a summary for the route Pozzallo - Zafferana Etnea (both in Sicily). Scores are 0-5 (5=best).
| viamichelin.com | maps.nokia.com | maps.google.com | maps.yahoo.com | maps.bing.com | routes.tomtom.com | |
| Ease to reach planner | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| km | 151 | 137.8 | 151 | 143.1 | 89.1mi (no quick possibility to switch to km) | 151 |
| time (hr:min) | 1:53 | 1:38 | 2:03 | 1:51 | 1:45 | 1:53 |
| Offers alternative routes/modes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Some simple route modes | No |
| Suggest location while you type | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| maps info and readability | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Route calculation speed | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Saturday, August 27, 2011
What Nokia needs
Nokia still makes the best hardware, and also Symbian is a good product. But what Nokia does not really have is charisma. It lost most of its charisma and now they've put a super (ex-Microsoft) Nerd as its CEO.
Apple did not really offer anything new to the mobile world, in essence, the iPhone and app store is what Nokia already had for years, but Apple had Steve Jobs charisma and everything looked unexplainably wow and new.
Now Nokia is still searching for its new role, and it is doing miserably and deliberately giving way to the competition.
Nokia is still not sure what it is offering and so it is offering an insensibly wide range of products, too much diverse, too much out of focus.
If Nokia is going to stick to just hardware, or both hardware and software, is still truly unclear. Nokia spent money developing a Linux mobile system (meeGo), and now it is thinking of using a Nerd's tool: Windows. All this, after successfully using and developing Symbian for so many years!
Someone said that no decision is worse than a bad decision, and Nokia is just doing both!
What if Nokia designed the new standard for hardware for mobility? Something like IBM did back in the 70s and 80s with their PC and software developers have a standard platform on which to work?
What if, for example we had the gorgeous C7 with a microSD slot and a boot loader and you can plug in any OS you like... be it Symbian, Android, Ubuntu, Windows and so on?
Apple did not really offer anything new to the mobile world, in essence, the iPhone and app store is what Nokia already had for years, but Apple had Steve Jobs charisma and everything looked unexplainably wow and new.
Now Nokia is still searching for its new role, and it is doing miserably and deliberately giving way to the competition.
Nokia is still not sure what it is offering and so it is offering an insensibly wide range of products, too much diverse, too much out of focus.
If Nokia is going to stick to just hardware, or both hardware and software, is still truly unclear. Nokia spent money developing a Linux mobile system (meeGo), and now it is thinking of using a Nerd's tool: Windows. All this, after successfully using and developing Symbian for so many years!
Someone said that no decision is worse than a bad decision, and Nokia is just doing both!
What if Nokia designed the new standard for hardware for mobility? Something like IBM did back in the 70s and 80s with their PC and software developers have a standard platform on which to work?
What if, for example we had the gorgeous C7 with a microSD slot and a boot loader and you can plug in any OS you like... be it Symbian, Android, Ubuntu, Windows and so on?
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
my first symbian application
and also my first Python script.
PyS60 is cool. You can create a script and run it on your Nokia. Simple. Then I learnt that there are tools like ensymble (from google code) to create a sis file to install and distribute the application.
I wanted a quick and simple unit converter. Although SI units are used by almost all countries in this world there are still people who use the awkward system of feet, psi, ounces etc. Thanks to the French and their metric system, the SI units are more readable and more easy to understand. I wrote this script for my Nokia to convert from various units. I also included old Maltese system of measurements.
To run on your nokia, just install PyS60 to your nokia - from https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=854&release_id=3264 - and copy the script to your memory card. I use Linx and obex to copy th files using bluetooth: which is much more handy.
Here's the script - then a sis may follow!
PyS60 is cool. You can create a script and run it on your Nokia. Simple. Then I learnt that there are tools like ensymble (from google code) to create a sis file to install and distribute the application.
I wanted a quick and simple unit converter. Although SI units are used by almost all countries in this world there are still people who use the awkward system of feet, psi, ounces etc. Thanks to the French and their metric system, the SI units are more readable and more easy to understand. I wrote this script for my Nokia to convert from various units. I also included old Maltese system of measurements.
To run on your nokia, just install PyS60 to your nokia - from https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=854&release_id=3264 - and copy the script to your memory card. I use Linx and obex to copy th files using bluetooth: which is much more handy.
import appuifw
convCat = [u"Length", u"Area", u"Volume", u"Weight", u"Temperature", u"Pressure"]
cont = 1
while cont:
# reset convCat
convUnits = []
convCalcToEsp = []
# get Category
convCatIndex = appuifw.popup_menu(convCat, u"Select a category")
if convCatIndex == 0:
# length, use m as 'Esperanto'.
convUnits = [ u"thou (th)", u"inches (in)", u"feet (ft)", u"yards (yd)", u"miles (mi)", u"knots (kt)", u"mm", u"cm", u"m", u"km", u"qasba", u"rod", u"fathom", u"league"]
convCalcToEsp = [0.0000254, 0.0254, 0.3048, 0.9144, 1609, 1852, 0.001, 0.01, 1, 1000, 2.096, 5.0292, 1.853184, 4828.032]
elif convCatIndex == 1:
# Area, use m2 as 'Esperanto'
convUnits = [ u"sq in", u"sq ft", u"sq yd", u"sq miles", u"sq knots", u"mm\u00B2", u"cm\u00B2", u"m\u00B2", u"km\u00B2", u"hectares", u"acres", u"tumoli", u"qasba kwadra"]
convCalcToEsp = [0.000645, 0.092903, 0.836127, 2589988, 3429904, 0.000001, 0.0001, 1, 1000000, 10000, 4046.87, 1124.13, 4.391]
elif convCatIndex == 2:
# Volume, use m3 as 'Esperanto'
convUnits = [ u"cu in", u"cu ft", u"cu yd", u"UK gal", u"UK quart", u"UK pint", u"fl oz", u"US gal", u"US quart", u"US pint", u"mm\u00B3", u"cm\u00B3", u"m\u00B3", u"litre (l)", u"centilitre (cl)", u"millilitre (ml)", u"cup", u"tablespoon", u"teaspoon", u"Oil barrel"]
convCalcToEsp = [ 0.000016387, 0.028316847, 0.764554858, 0.0045461, 0.0011365, 0.0005682, 2.841306E-05, 0.0037856, 0.0009464, 0.0004732, 0.000000001, 0.000001, 1, 0.001, 0.00001, 0.000001, 0.000236588, 0.000014784, 0.000004929, 0.15898 ]
elif convCatIndex == 3:
# Weight, use kg as 'Esperanto'
convUnits = [ u"grain (gr)", u"drachm (drc)", u"ounce (oz)", u"pound (lb)", u"stone (st)", u"UK hundredweight (cwt)", u"ton", u"mg", u"g", u"kg", u"tonne", u"ratal", u"wizna", u"qantar"]
convCalcToEsp = [ 0.00006579891, 0.001771845, 0.028349523, 0.45359237, 6.350293, 50.802345, 1016.0469, 0.000001, 0.001, 1, 1000, 0.7938, 3.969, 79.38]
elif convCatIndex == 4:
# Temperature, use C as 'Esperanto'
convUnits = [ u"F", u"C", u"K"]
convCalcToEsp = [ 1, 1, 1]
elif convCatIndex == 5:
# Pressure, Pa as 'Esperanto'
convUnits = [ u"psi", u"bar", u"Pascal (N/m\u00B2)"]
convCalcToEsp = [ 6894, 100000, 1]
else:
# 'back was pressed
cont=0
# check if there's a valid category
if len(convUnits) > 0 :
# check that if I made a programming mistake in arrays.
if len(convUnits) == len(convCalcToEsp):
# ok, hence calc.
convFromIndex = appuifw.popup_menu(convUnits, u"Convert from:")
if convFromIndex >= 0 :
convToIndex = appuifw.popup_menu(convUnits, u"Convert " + convUnits[convFromIndex] + " to:")
if (convFromIndex >=0) and (convToIndex >=0):
conVal = appuifw.query(u"Convert " + convUnits[convFromIndex] + " to " + convUnits[convToIndex], "float")
if convCatIndex == 4:
if (convFromIndex != convToIndex):
if (convFromIndex == 0):
# convert from F to C or K
resVal = (conVal -32) * 5/9
if (convToIndex == 2):
# convert C to K
resVal = resVal + 273.15
elif (convToIndex == 0):
# convert to F
C = conVal
if (convFromIndex == 2):
# convert K to C first
C = C - 273.15
# convert C to F
resVal = (C * 9/5) + 32
# now F is not select, hence conv from C to K or vice versa
else:
if convFromIndex == 1:
resVal = conVal + 273.15
else:
resVal = conVal - 273.15
else:
# no conversion required.
resVal=conVal
else:
# if not temperature, then use the following equation.
# appuifw.note(u"calc: "+ str(conVal) + " x " + str(convCalcToEsp[convFromIndex]) + " / " + str(convCalcToEsp[convToIndex]), "info")
# dummy = appuifw.query(u"calc: "+ str(conVal) + " x " + str(convCalcToEsp[convFromIndex]) + " / " + str(convCalcToEsp[convToIndex]), "query")
resVal = conVal * convCalcToEsp[convFromIndex] / convCalcToEsp[convToIndex]
# output
cont = appuifw.query(u" " + str(conVal) + " " + convUnits[convFromIndex] + " = " + str(resVal) + " " + convUnits[convToIndex] + "\n\nConvert another?", "query")
else:
appuifw.note(u"Internal error (" + str(len(convUnits)) + "/" + str(len(convCalcToEsp)) + ")", "error")
Here's the script - then a sis may follow!
Monday, April 11, 2011
green energy, how?
We need power, power is not just energy, but it is like a concentrated form of energy. We consume energy in bursts and lot of it in such a small time. That is why we live in the petroleum era and which shall eventually decay and leave space to a new era.
A study says that if 1% of the Sahara were transformed into a solar farm, then we should solve our present need for energy.
But we need to harness energy so as to consume it in bursts far away from where it is generated. Transporting energy in its electrical form proved to be efficient and so far the only method which we know. Storing energy in its electrical form may not really prove efficient or possible on a large scale. Though once, I suggested to store energy in batteries scattered in distribution points round the island. These batteries are charged when we produce extra energy and then discharge during peak energy consumption.
Now I had this idea. We have sea, lots of it an very little land. Sun farming is possible but truly limited because of space, so why not use the sea surface? So I thought... what if we have a closed eco-water cycle? Water from the sea evaporates by using the sun's energy and then it condenses at an altitude. Water is stored (accumulator) at a higher altitude in a reservoir - something similar to a dam. Water from the reservoir will then drive a turbine and transform the potential energy in kinetic and eventually electric.
here's a diagram
The scale involved is not on the small side but works very well in nature and should be tuned to work efficiently in a closed system. The trick is how to effectively condensate the vapour. The top of the structure may be covered in PV panels while the south facing side should all be in glass and well insulated. The area below the sun exposed area must cover an area much larger than that of the reservoir.
A study says that if 1% of the Sahara were transformed into a solar farm, then we should solve our present need for energy.
But we need to harness energy so as to consume it in bursts far away from where it is generated. Transporting energy in its electrical form proved to be efficient and so far the only method which we know. Storing energy in its electrical form may not really prove efficient or possible on a large scale. Though once, I suggested to store energy in batteries scattered in distribution points round the island. These batteries are charged when we produce extra energy and then discharge during peak energy consumption.
Now I had this idea. We have sea, lots of it an very little land. Sun farming is possible but truly limited because of space, so why not use the sea surface? So I thought... what if we have a closed eco-water cycle? Water from the sea evaporates by using the sun's energy and then it condenses at an altitude. Water is stored (accumulator) at a higher altitude in a reservoir - something similar to a dam. Water from the reservoir will then drive a turbine and transform the potential energy in kinetic and eventually electric.
here's a diagram
/----------------------|
/ |
sun > / vapour |
/ \ condenses |
sun > / \ ==================|
/ \ =================|
sun > / \ === reservoir ==|
/ \ ===============|
/ green \ ==============|
/ house \---------- --/|
/ effect | | |
/ evaporation |X| | turbine
/ | | |
/================ water=============|
/====================================|
The scale involved is not on the small side but works very well in nature and should be tuned to work efficiently in a closed system. The trick is how to effectively condensate the vapour. The top of the structure may be covered in PV panels while the south facing side should all be in glass and well insulated. The area below the sun exposed area must cover an area much larger than that of the reservoir.
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