I'm having a little trouble with Expedia lately, they got some money from my bank account that they didn't earn, and now I'm trying to get my money back. I'm writing this down to keep a clear record of what happened.

An ATtiny2313 chip, some C code, a bunch of LEDs and other components - that's your DIY Halloween decoration this year. I'll show you how to do it, and there's a video at the end of this page showing the digital creepiness in action.

So, we did a "science project" today, the kids and me. We made a scale model of the Solar System, out on the street, to get a visual impression of its true size. It was pretty amazing. It's a very easy project to do, takes a couple hours, and it's a lot of fun.

A few years ago I bought a motorcycle, and quickly discovered the necessity of trying to predict other people's behavior on the road - profiling, basically, not for the sake of it, but in the interest of my own safety. On a bike, the main source of trouble is not yourself, it's other people. Also, on a bike, trouble is either absent, or very very big. So I started to collect these observations - and continued to do so even later when driving my very boring and average four-wheel sedan.

These are not inflexible rules, but merely "statistical truths". I do think the observations are sound, so I use them all the time as guidelines. Here's the list:

It used to be that lasers were big bulky expensive things that required a laboratory to run and an entire factory to build. I remember the first He-Ne laser I saw two decades ago, the size of a small telescope and probably not more powerful than the laser pointer I carry on the keychain nowadays. Well, not anymore. It's pretty easy to build a laser today, on the kitchen table or in the garage, for a surprisingly small investment. The goal is to make a laser capable of burning small objects, such as a piece of paper, a balloon, etc, while keeping the whole project cheap - even as cheap as $35 if you don't make any mistakes. Here's how.

Finally got rid of cable TV today (actually Mihaela did, it was her initiative). Renting movies on Netflix is quite enough, even more so if you consider that you can do video streaming from Netflix directly to the PS3. What with their tens of thousands of titles, I'll never run out of movies to watch. Kids get their cartoons too from the same source. Plenty of fish in that pond.

Goals - we all have goals. Some people's goals are pretty lofty - make a million this year, or ten, or climb the Everest - and sometimes they even achieve them. Others have more modest ones. Mine was to bench press 100 kg (220 lb), and I achieved it today. Here's the blow-by-blow.

This is the third part of the review. The second part is here:

http://florin.myip.org/blog/zeitgeist-movie-debunked-part-2

This is the second part of the review. The first part is here:

http://florin.myip.org/blog/zeitgeist-movie-debunked-part-1

I had no intention to write about "Zeitgeist" at all. I've skimmed it shortly after its release, seeing as it had generated a pretty consistent buzz on the blogosphere and the discussion forums. I've seen references popping up here and there afterwards, but mostly I just ignored them. So I thought the whole affair was dead and buried and I was well on my way to forget it. Except, I was not aware of the impact and influence that the movie still had in the time that followed - and still has today. That was my biggest surprise, and the reason why I'm writing now.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

OK, I'm lying. I'm also writing about it because I need the exercise - you know, to keep that pen sharp, or rather that word processor busy. But regardless of the reason, here it is, my review. Sort of.

A constant theme of the American politics in recent years (the '00 decade), at all levels, is the great and apparently increasing polarization of the political spectrum. Politicians talk about "partisan politics", and if you look at the number of votes in Congress neatly divided on "party lines", as if mindless robots are casting the votes, not living human beings, you understand these are not empty words. Commentators and pundits have observed an increasing tendency of some neighborhoods to become "unicolor" politically, as if there's some selection mechanism pulling diverse people apart. Changes happen at the high levels of any of the three branches of government and then people talk about that saying how they need to "get their country back" or how they just have gotten it back, as if an invasion has happened at some point and some foreign or alien force has taken over or has been defeated. And finally the media, supposedly neutral, allegedly existing just to inform citizens about events, seems to be shifting towards more partisan positions.

It is perhaps easy to dismiss these things as being just "politics as usual" - and maybe that's the case, at least presently. But this is not a random universe and things tend to happen for a reason, and when you observe trends which are this large and deep and persistent, you are entitled to start looking for a cause. It is this way because something caused it, and trying to find an answer to the question "why?" often sends you off in directions which are as surprising initially as they are satisfying (from the point of view of knowledge) in the end.

The thesis which I am advancing here is that the seemingly deep division in modern American politics has come to pass because this is a scene with two main actors - the two major parties - whose positions have slowly changed over many decades until they have stumbled upon two great attractors in the field of human psychology, and now are stuck. It's essentially the supremacy of psychology over politics, certain features of the human mind acting as mooring posts far from each other, preventing not only any further drift, but also most attempts at bridging the gap.

Let's begin with looking at the way the human mind works, using the triune brain theory, Transactional Analysis, and related models - the clues we'll find there will make the explanation pretty obvious.

An epic fantasy trilogy, the first part already a movie ready to launch on December 7th:

www.hisdarkmaterials.com
www.goldencompassmovie.com

The interesting part is the amount of noise the movie has generated in the media, despite the fact that the three books were not as controversial, not even close. But why the controversy?

Bioshock is a first-person shooter game, released in 2007.

http://www.bioshockgame.com/

The plot follows plane crash survivor Jack, as he enters and explores the underwater city of Rapture, the goal being survival and finding a way out of the city. The game looks and feels like a morality-based Doom, of sorts, but the story has surprising and fascinating connections which are not obvious at first sight.

This is a follow-up to my essay "The decision tree" which can be found here:

http://florin.myip.org/blog/node/25

You're riding the sportbike on a technical road or track, quickly following the riders ahead of you, braking to shed speed, leaning through the turns, straightening up the bike, revving the engine until it's screaming with rage and joy, and you're propelled forward by the awesome acceleration of the racing bike, and you do it over and over again, until every fiber in your body is vibrating with the thrill of the extreme speed and the world disappears in a fast receding blur.

This is the follow-up to my essay "The engines of joy" which has been published here:

http://florin.myip.org/blog/node/22

This time I will examine the same themes, but from a different perspective.

This is not the usual run-of-the-mill historically accurate movie. Those who expected that were surely disappointed. Instead, the movie chooses to stay faithful to the graphic novel by Frank Miller. So, it's a mix of stories of bravery and honor, of Miller's intense imagery, and of post-Matrix cinematography. The results are very interesting indeed.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/

http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/

Keep reading to find out why.

On January 9th 2006, while riding my motorcycle to work, I had an accident. I thought the car ahead of me in the left-hand lane was going to swerve into my lane. That was not true, but I acted upon this false impression and I hit the front brake hard. The front wheel froze, the tire lost traction, the bike fell on the left side. I hit the road and tumbled a dozen times or more. The bike was a total loss. I was rushed to the hospital - the result: broken right ankle, broken left collarbone. I underwent surgery to fix my ankle, which put a metal piece in my foot and several screws to keep together the shattered bones. I had to do many months of physical therapy to recover the ankle, which may or may not be ever the same - it's too early to tell now, about 9 months later, although I made huge progress and the prospects look good. My own god damn fault, this whole affair, but that's not the topic of these pages.

And yet, one of the things I often - nay, I permanently dream about is to get back in the saddle. Keep reading to find out why.

"After a great war, foreign powers ruled China. But our traditions still gave us hope. To break our will, they staged the tournament to prove the superiority of their warriors against our own. Only one rose to challenge them. He carried our pride on his shoulders and brought the nation to its feet."

"This man was fearless."

http://www.jetlisfearless.com/

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0446059/

This is a movie with a very high charge, a dual charge - it is the expression of a certain ideology and, at the same time, it carries the story of extreme transformation through extreme challenges of destiny. Click below to read the full review.

Official site and IMDb page:

http://troymovie.warnerbros.com/
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0332452/

The greatest battle of the antiquity. The greatest heroes. The greatest story.

Troy.

Read on for the full review...

I just watched "Borderland", an episode in the 4th season of the Star Trek Enterprise series. As the new Star Trek goes, it's pretty good. We get to see Brent Spiner again, there's lots of action, the plot - albeit not too original - is pretty well guided and has good rhythm... And yes, it's the "beyond humanity" theme again. And it's the same old comfortable yet cowardly answer to it again. Let me explain.

Official site and IMDb page:

http://www.alexanderthemovie.com/
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0346491/combined

Oliver Stone makes me feel uneasy. I think "Natural Born Killers" is a gratuitous parade of violent content, with no message worth the bother. I kinda shrugged at "Any Given Sunday" - again, gratuitous violence and no message i could care about. "JFK", "Born on the Fourth of July", yeah, those were cool. "The Doors" - one of the most ambiguous movies i've ever seen, i love it as much as i hate it.
And here comes this new movie, "Alexander". I went to see it mostly because the music is made by a composer i admire - Vangelis. I went there kinda prepared to listen to the music on the background of the movie :-) as it were. I came out thoroughly impressed by the whole thing.
I love this movie. I don't care what the critics say. I just think it's great. Read on to find out why.

This is a review of the DVD release of the first Star Wars trilogy - episodes IV, V and VI: "A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return Of The Jedi". Of course there are spoilers all over, but c'mon, everyone knows these movies, right?

Official site:

http://www.starwars.com/

Approximately 20 years after the theatrical release, the original "Star Wars" trilogy is being released on DVD. After so much time, i'm looking at these movies with a nostalgic eye. There was much excitement at the time when the movies were originally released, and i didn't fail to get caught in that excitement. And now, 20 years later...

This is a review of "The Baroque Cycle" trilogy: "Quicksilver", "The Confusion", "The System Of The World" by Neal Stephenson.

Official site:

http://www.baroquecycle.com/

There are no essential spoilers in this review.

This is Neal Stephenson's latest series of books. History, alchemy, the birth of modern science, pirates and treasures and distant seas - it's all there, in The Baroque Cycle. And there's a trace of cyberpunk, and there's also a trace of the stately and staid style of the writers of old... A multifaceted book that boggles the mind.
How did everything got glued together? Read on to find out.

Original website:

http://etherine.endmusik.com/

Album's page on Magnatune.com:

http://www.magnatune.com/artists/etherine

This is the second album by Etherine (real name: Michael Weeks). I've commented upon the first album, "24 Days", in my blog - the overall impression was that "24 Days" is a really good electronica album. "Gleam" continues the tradition.

Original website:

http://etherine.endmusik.com/

Album's page on Magnatune.com:

http://www.magnatune.com/artists/etherine

Etherine is the name of a musical project by Michael Weeks, and "24 Days" is the first album created under the project's "umbrella". The album was created as an experiment, the author wrote and recorded one song every day over a 24 days period. Despite the experimental character, it has cohesion and the inner "movement" of the album as you progress through the songs feels good and natural.

The name of the project could not have been chosen more properly - Etherine creates a music that's ethereal, pure and transparent. And there's something to it that puts it light years ahead of the typical, forced-ethereal, ambient or "new age" music.

Pictures from the Expo:

http://florin.myip.org/gallery2/v/lw2004/

Perhaps the previous LinuxWorld Expo events were a bit amateurish, or lacked focus, but not this one. This is probably the first LW Expo "with a theme". We all knew that Linux is here to stay, but perhaps what we weren't told so far was where exactly was going to be the penguin's lair. Thanks to the LWE 2004, we know that now. Ladies and gentlemen users of Linux, welcome to...

This is the first part of a series of articles about music ideals.

If you ask people at random "why do you listen to music?" the range of answers will vary a great deal.
The majority will probably answer "because it makes me feel good", implying an emotional satisfaction derived from the act of listening.
Other, maybe more refined listeners will answer "because it has beauty", the return here being one that belongs to the aesthetical domain.
Other people listen to music because it helps them concentrate while working, yet other people will utilize music to relax after a stressfull day, or perhaps to help alleviating certain ailments. In other cases music is a support for social activities (think about the carnival at Rio de Janeiro) while some other times the society uses music simply as a tool to put its member to work to accomplish certain goals (like the military music used to create a certain state of mind in soldiers). Also, music can be simply a decorative element, like when soft music is played in the background at various exhibitions or in restaurants or other public places.

In order to find the common thread to all these various situations, we have to look at how the music interacts with the listener.