tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52582602251246738542024-02-22T08:15:52.231+00:00XD @ WPTitoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-65673238029801027492012-01-19T02:56:00.000+00:002012-01-19T02:56:33.190+00:00Here is a copy of a letter that I sent my Senators and my Representative in Congress. We will see what happens...<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Dear Senator McCain, </blockquote><blockquote> <br />
I am writing to you as a registered Arizona voter and concerned constituent about S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act. I urge you to vote "no" on the upcoming motion to invoke cloture on the bill. </blockquote><blockquote> <br />
Albeit well-intentioned, the PROTECT IP Act does not provide adequate oversight over measures targeted against alleged offenders, raising legitimate concerns about the Act's constitutionality. PROTECT IP would also effectively overturn critical portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—portions that form the legal backbone of the American tech industry. These sections (in particular, 17 U.S.C. §512) are what allow the start-up technology companies of today to become the Googles of tomorrow, creating jobs for thousands of Americans in the process. Lastly, the methods through which the PROTECT IP Act would combat copyright infringement are similar—and sometimes identical—in nature to those used by regimes with questionable human rights records. The impression that the United States created the "Great Firewall of America" would irreparably damage our credibility when asking them to remove censorship barriers that impede the spread of democracy and free enterprise. </blockquote><blockquote>The PROTECT IP Act is fundamentally flawed, as it would stifle the growth of our nation’s tech sector, would introduce due process questions, and would erode America’s position as a global leader. As such, it does not deserve floor consideration. Any solution to the piracy problem needs to consider the effects it would have on the Internet economy—a place where the United States has a clear competitive advantage. I hope you will take my concerns about this bill into account, and oppose this legislation by voting "no" on cloture.</blockquote>~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-69126442587570916212011-06-01T00:23:00.003+00:002011-06-01T00:25:15.964+00:00That time of the year... again<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/5784179752/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/5784179752_7bf7b6b7d8.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/5784179752/">That time of the year... again</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Atlantic_hurricane_season">2011 Atlantic hurricane season</a> has arrived. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Tropical_cyclones">WikiProject Tropical cyclones</a> will keep posting updates as they become available. You are also encouraged to follow <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/wikihurricanes">@wikihurricanes</a> for urgent updates.</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-78869811488711372072011-01-17T09:14:00.002+00:002011-01-17T09:15:19.366+00:0040,000 sounds easy<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/5363368966/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/5363368966_6e507d0e6c.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/5363368966/">40K edits</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>Yet it took 5+ years to do it. I'm going to buy myself a Wikipedia T-shirt now... <tt>:P</tt></p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-50089515014809717922010-10-26T22:44:00.000+00:002010-10-26T22:44:24.680+00:00Bugzilla "undef error - Cannot determine local time zone" error in Ubuntu 10.10After upgrading to Ubuntu 10.10, the installation of Bugzilla I had running with little issues since Ubuntu 9.04 suddenly broke with a glaring red box that said "undef error - Cannot determine local time zone" every time I tried to list bugs or display them. <br />
<br />
After trying the suggestions at <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.bugzilla/browse_thread/thread/4bfb7c1c2e588ee7">mozilla.support.bugzilla</a>, I was unable to get Bugzilla to recognize the system's timezone setting. So, I just went hardcore and moved the existing time zone setting out of the way, and made a new symbolic link directly to the timezone file:<br />
<br />
<code>ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Phoenix /etc/localtime</code><br />
<br />
Surprisingly, it worked...<br />
<br />
~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-34865938077980692612010-08-15T09:58:00.002+00:002010-08-15T10:00:29.915+00:00Out with the old...Enough green. I redesigned the site to give it a slightly more appealing look...Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-78639325658714130612010-07-24T03:19:00.002+00:002010-07-24T03:24:38.569+00:00Sometimes interesting stuff happens<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/4816671254/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4816671254_461e356827.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/4816671254/">IMG_9182</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>I've worked on many current-event articles in Wikipedia; however, I cannot remember when a current event happened close enough to me to actually be able to observe it unfold in real time. That happened on Tuesday when the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempe_Town_Lake">Town Lake west dam collapsed</a>; while I was not on campus at the time, I did track it as soon as news broke on wiki (although to be honest, I reverted the initial reports since nobody in the traditional media had reported it online at the time). <br /><br />I went to the lake to take pictures of the rupture's aftermath, and I've posted all of them on Flickr. I also <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tempe_Town_Lake_dam_breach_2010-07-21.jpg">posted one</a> in the <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/">Wikimedia Commons</a>, and to my delight it has been used by other people in the online community. :) So it feels rather different to be "reporting" on news than to be searching for photographs or articles in the news...<br /><br />~~~~</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-80805359462670669432010-01-24T18:25:00.002+00:002010-01-24T18:31:06.356+00:00This is what happens when you get too much rain at once<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10px;"><object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/BvTfyclY9dU&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/BvTfyclY9dU&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object></span><br /><br />Watch on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTfyclY9dU">YouTube</a> to watch in HDTitoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-15611165212056354662009-12-05T07:47:00.001+00:002009-12-05T07:47:32.666+00:00Sleepy cat<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/4159069291/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/4159069291_e6aaa6aa8c.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/4159069291/">IMG_4756</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>Not as evil now, huh? :P</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-26105292868017751732009-10-13T18:15:00.002+00:002009-10-13T18:30:25.793+00:00Map projectionsOn-topic for a change... :P <div><br /></div><div>Die.net shows an <a href="http://www.die.net/earth/">interesting utility for graphing the illuminated half of the Earth</a> at any given time. It's nifty, but the fact that it uses <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_2002.php">Blue Marble</a>, just as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Tropical_cyclones/Tracks">track map generator</a> does, makes me wonder about how it can be integrated into the track program... particularly of interest would be the modifications to different projections, as we're restricted to only a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equirectangular_projection">carte parallelogrammatique</a> in our output. They use ImageMagick, so we even share a back end... hmm.</div><div><br /></div><div>~~~~ </div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-30435119756851389352009-10-11T09:28:00.002+00:002009-10-11T09:29:10.385+00:00Yes, but I don't want to eat the truck<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3996872247/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3996872247_0115aac326.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.8em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3996872247/">Yes, but I don't want to eat the truck</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>Sabritazo!<br /><br />~~~~</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-7503676658599901242009-10-11T07:20:00.002+00:002009-10-11T07:21:14.883+00:00Pride of Sonora<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3997567550/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2640/3997567550_f926624782.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.8em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3997567550/">Pride of Sonora</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>You know it is Sonora when sahuaros are just chilling out in the back yard...</p><p>~~~~</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-16172386579266362682009-10-07T06:00:00.002+00:002009-10-07T06:02:45.713+00:00Winding Road 2<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3989580830/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3989580830_fef373164b.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.8em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3989580830/">Winding Road 2</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>I'll be posting some pics from the trip gradually.<br /><br />Here's one of the ones I liked the most; I clicked on the "enhance" option in iPhoto '08 to improve the dynamic range of the picture, although I'm not sure whether I like it over the original. Anyways, enjoy...<br /><br />~~~~</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-19340243321642087242009-10-07T00:49:00.002+00:002009-10-07T00:56:49.815+00:00EvilCat<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3974081282/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/3974081282_bbf417bec6.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.8em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/titoxd/3974081282/">EvilCat</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/titoxd/">Titoxd</a>.</span></div><p>Now, Natasha likes to pose for some reason... so here's a pic of her in her latest attempt to interrupt me while I'm doing homework!<br /><br />~~~~</p>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-20577035606606636692009-10-06T01:44:00.003+00:002009-10-06T01:49:19.987+00:00The advisor won't enjoy thisThe headline says everything: "<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1216621/German-men-worlds-worst-lovers-lazy-English-come-second-battle-sheets.html">German men are the 'world's worst lovers'</a>"... and as mildly interested I am in seeing the prof's reaction to this article, I think it's prudent not to ask... :P <div><br /></div><div>~~~~</div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-66585590027403982312009-10-01T08:55:00.002+00:002009-10-01T08:57:26.626+00:00Now this one is just weird<a href="http://tackyweddings.com/2009/08/24/awesome-custom-wedding-cake-toppers/">Unicorn bride</a>? Yes... because we all want to hear, "your bride looks like a horse"...<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">~~~~</span></div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-53223028044498250222009-09-27T09:36:00.002+00:002009-09-27T09:38:15.135+00:00This is so terrible it's not even funny<div>Some things are bad, some are just terrible. This belongs to the latter.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the dad dropped £100k on <a href="http://tackyweddings.com/2008/10/30/outer-limits-tacky-150k-wedding-for-uk-16-year-old-girl-ugliest-dress-ever/">this crap</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div>~~~~</div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-6455052060511943532009-09-25T10:34:00.005+00:002009-09-25T12:12:16.431+00:00En un cerrar de ojosEn esos momentos, nuestro héroe observaba a aquella mística fémina que se apoderaba de sus pensamientos. A pesar de la hora que marcaban los relojes, la sutil influencia del sereno neutralizaba el calor que solía hacer acto de presencia en esas noches de verano. Por ende, era una noche ideal para que la pareja enfrentara una solitaria batalla contra las fuerzas del desenfreno y la pasión; una batalla sin testigo alguno, excepto la siempre-vigilante luna que se encontraba reposando en la cúspide del cénit. <div><br /></div><div>A pesar de encontrarse en la situación que tanto anhelaba, él se encontraba agitado, bajo el asecho de las más primitivas fuerzas de la naturaleza. ¿Acaso era posible que esa mujer, que su sueño oculto y prohibido, se encontrara a insignificantes pulgadas de su cuerpo? Sin embargo, sus dudas no concordaban con las señales que su cerebro procesaba: El olfato le decía que aquel exquisito aroma de fresas se encontraba muy cerca—aquel aroma que le había atraído a la bella doncella en primer lugar. El tacto podía sentir una textura lisa, pero suave, como aquellas manos que una vez había alcanzado acariciar a base de subrepción, casualidad y circunstancia. Sin embargo, el más deleitante de los estímulos que percibía era la vista: Ver a la causa de sus bajos instintos entre sus brazos y observándole con delirio carnal en la mirada.</div><div><br /></div><div>La tenue brisa balanceaba el cabello ocre de la joven mujer, escondiendo su rostro en sombras tanto inocentes como románticas, invitando al enamorado a acercarse más y más. El cálido brillo de una lámpara de sodio iluminaba su piel de marfil hasta que adquirió un color de durazno—y para nuestro aspirante a amante, su piel se veía tan deliciosa y apetecible como si fuera hecha de la mismísima fruta. Sus ojos negros, oscuros cómo las noches de invierno, tenían un brillo que él siempre había rogado ver, una reflexión vidriosa que surgía del mutuo amor del cual siempre había soñado. Atrapado por esos ojos, él se veía incapaz de evitar el inevitable acercamiento entre sus labios—aunque no es como si él deseara evitar algo que había deseado por lo que parecía una eternidad.</div><div><br /></div><div>Poco a poco, la marcha del deseo los fue conectando más y más—lentamente, sí, pero también definitivamente. Él sentía como el olor de esa bendita mujer se intensificaba como los milímetros que los separaban cedían su existencia al llamar de la noche. Sus manos comenzaban a emigrar debajo de la sinuosa cintura, con rumbo a regiones más redondas y acolchonadas debajo de las caderas. Este alarmante recorrido recibió respuesta, ya que ella gradualmente empujó las cumbres de sus pequeños, pero firmes senos hasta que quedaron plasmadas contra su musculatura. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ya poseídos por los trucos de Eros, la joven se encontraba frente a frente con su admirador secreto. Dentro de él, la tensión existente suplicaba que la corta distancia entre su boca y los rubíes de escarlata que ella tenía por labios dejara de existir. Él estaba a punto de estallar en éxtasis—tanto tiempo deseándola, los años deseándola a escondidas, las frecuentes desilusiones que tuvo que enfrentar otra y otra vez, en fin—en fin, la interminable espera se encontraba a meras fracciones de segundo de terminar. El podía sentir el respirar de ella en sus propios labios, y estaba listo para besarle como si fuera la única oportunidad que tendría en la vida, entregándole cuerpo y alma...</div><div><br /></div><div>En ese entonces, una súbita y desagradable voz destruyó sus anhelos: </div><div>—"Van a ser $4.32 en la segunda ventana..."</div><div><br /></div><div>El joven soñador entonces regresó a la realidad: se había quedado esperando tanto tiempo esperando que le atendieran en el drive-thru que perdió toda noción de espacio y tiempo. Aquel abrazo nunca existió, el olor que percibía venía de la malteada que había ordenado, y sus manos estaban a punto de destruir a un pobre durazno que andaba rodando en el asiento del pasajero. La espera tendría que continuar... pero el sueño, el deseo, no terminaría ahí...</div><div><br /></div><div>~~~~</div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-52158678267077525292009-09-25T10:31:00.003+00:002009-09-25T10:33:37.870+00:00Time: "Wikipedia a Victim of Own Success?"As the link in the header indicates, TIME Magazine has published an <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1924492,00.html">article that postulates hypotheses about Wikipedia's growth trends</a>. It's an interesting read, check it out.Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-30220179883087585022009-09-22T06:34:00.006+00:002009-09-22T06:58:57.378+00:00Compiling Nokia QT on Snow Leopard<div style="text-align: left;">Well, I've been trying to install <a href="http://www.paraview.org/">ParaView</a> for a while on Snow Leopard, and I was unable to do so since the <a href="http://qt.nokia.com/downloads/sdk-mac-os-cpp">installer for the current version of the Qt SDK</a> (4.5.2) is broken. However, not all hope is lost. The installer still contains everything necessary to get Qt up and running. Here's what to do:</div><div><br /></div><div>First, open the package and mount it by double-clicking it. Cancel the installer that pops out, and go into the Finder, and open the Qt SDK image. You will see a "QtSDK.mpkg" icon, like shown below:</div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0_LKVR7KZsjJLZTwOJt5ZjPV8mLP1yAWuaaGxGgjdJcBeFQBukNSuy6jTYQXzrSfLK0FGMSLX2Fb6vCDqZ0aGlqb1pW2XJo8S1BJQe2hLEutQkUBHWAHBaKkcCqZnMA0rRm1jEBUZKi2/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.43.57+PM.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0_LKVR7KZsjJLZTwOJt5ZjPV8mLP1yAWuaaGxGgjdJcBeFQBukNSuy6jTYQXzrSfLK0FGMSLX2Fb6vCDqZ0aGlqb1pW2XJo8S1BJQe2hLEutQkUBHWAHBaKkcCqZnMA0rRm1jEBUZKi2/s320/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.43.57+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384179042752311282" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 198px; " /></a></div><div>Right-click on it to reveal a context menu, and select "Show Package Contents", which will open a new window with the innards of the installer:</div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9syTBv6ssQbJxoGbQb7IlQky9MHg7f_9hGnw17uB0CpAPFvlfPtcwJ8hyphenhyphentuZpjR3r17Ri5oSP-aFI7uCughj7L35VyB3TSlBlRhgHpAB4knNU7cCEwDLa3RnlrCYW5L-Kz-gvFO5fpUS/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.47.25+PM.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9syTBv6ssQbJxoGbQb7IlQky9MHg7f_9hGnw17uB0CpAPFvlfPtcwJ8hyphenhyphentuZpjR3r17Ri5oSP-aFI7uCughj7L35VyB3TSlBlRhgHpAB4knNU7cCEwDLa3RnlrCYW5L-Kz-gvFO5fpUS/s320/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.47.25+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384179897537227938" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 198px; " /></a></div><div>Not very exciting, but it will suffice. Go into Contents/Packages and you will see the motherlode:</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQaFolXLZ2O7UZfsTwS9UTLN2v1MzCjYnCgg5nfc7snBMwEljgLjLFTEvcd9TsUqx4jazvsq8T28n5l4dUswM4iRCqJ3ce6GDYIY8ZYQhZtOmy5Q-_3q9-u_ZEwp8lavp1obAzQNuYRC7/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.49.42+PM.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQaFolXLZ2O7UZfsTwS9UTLN2v1MzCjYnCgg5nfc7snBMwEljgLjLFTEvcd9TsUqx4jazvsq8T28n5l4dUswM4iRCqJ3ce6GDYIY8ZYQhZtOmy5Q-_3q9-u_ZEwp8lavp1obAzQNuYRC7/s320/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.49.42+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384180482098502322" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 198px; " /></a></div><div>Now, each .pkg file contains its own installer, which you can activate by double-clicking on each of the icons. I installed the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';">libraries</span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';">debuglibraries</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'courier new';">headers</span> packages first, then everything else. Now, if the installation was successful, we should be able to go into /Developer/Applications/Qt and see if the qtdemo program exists. In my installation, it did, and when I executed it, the following screen came up:</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMg7X4jix9Oxco5rO6aY6XpUoAeUllmMYbLeqLtsZGms_OwpRW7d5AJGAkigFb8Obu0FxW6wtY3wHsUhZUv04GOkbK0IXlQ9tNn8m43jFDki1uCKMdWnV18i6oEVlb4ypbMDJ9E76ZxcG/s1600-h/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.54.09+PM.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMg7X4jix9Oxco5rO6aY6XpUoAeUllmMYbLeqLtsZGms_OwpRW7d5AJGAkigFb8Obu0FxW6wtY3wHsUhZUv04GOkbK0IXlQ9tNn8m43jFDki1uCKMdWnV18i6oEVlb4ypbMDJ9E76ZxcG/s320/Screen+shot+2009-09-21+at+11.54.09+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384181661653717330" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 255px; " /></a></div><div>Success!</div><div><br /></div><div>I haven't tried playing around with it very much, but the gradient and vector deformation demos do work. Now I just have to try getting ParaView to work, but that'll be later...</div><div><br /></div><div>~~~~</div><div><br /></div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-7738178347966865112009-09-22T05:00:00.002+00:002009-09-22T05:01:52.800+00:00Removing the spider websWell, it's been a while since I actually wrote anything in here. Let's try expanding the scope of the blog from wiki-oriented to essentially just about anything and we'll see where we go from there.<div><br /></div><div>~~~~</div>Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-77670021403675977852007-12-13T06:07:00.000+00:002007-12-13T06:13:25.390+00:00Open letter to Webcomics communityHere's a copy of a letter I submitted to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlock_Mercenary">Howard Tayler</a>'s <a href="http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/01/news-from-the-world-of-webcomics/">blog</a> about the dispute that has severely strained the relations between the Webcomics and Wikipedia communities. Hopefully he sees the letter and redistributes it to whomever it may be necessary, to solve this situation. Comments are welcome, as usual.<br /><br /><hr /><br />Hi, folks. I'm just your random Wikipedia admin who is trying to help out in stuff, and I don't know where to post my comment, so I'll just post it here, in the last thread with the "Wikiwatch" tag.<br /><br />One thing that has been repeated ad nauseam is that mods have a tendency to be delete-happy. Ironically enough, reading some of the threads in several pages, many users who are mentioned are not Wikipedia administrators. While this seems like a petty complaint, I'd rather not get a bad rap I don't deserve... ;) But in all seriousness, if you want to find out who is an admin or not, just plug in their username in Special:Listusers (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Listusers">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Listusers</a>).<br /><br />However, whining about whether someone is an admin or not is not the point of my comment. Watching the Webcomics mess from the perspective of someone who has the delete bit, one thing that I can say is that if there were a way to demonstrably say that a comic is notable, then there would be much less of a mess in this situation. However, as far as I can look, there is no external guidance that allows us to determine why a particular Webcomic is popular or not. So, the only thing we can do is fall into our default guideline, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability_%28web%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability_%28web%29</a>. Now, we all agree that the guideline is definitely not ideal, but consider things from our perspective. We have to deal with mountains of crap every day, so how do we discern that which is crap from the non-crap? While we can all agree that a crappy garage band from some random kid somewhere is not notable, what constitutes notability in Webcomics?<br /><br />In other words, I'd like to ask the Webcomic community for something. If there were a way for you to police your own content, the decision-making of administrators might be much less of a non-issue. However, I'm not asking about doing that in Wikipedia, as doing that would just result in Yet Another Wikipedia Notability System (WP:YAWNS). :P Instead, I consider a much more constructive step for both Wikipedia and Webcomics to be for the comic community to create a site showcasing good webcomics, documenting awards, etc. Not only that would give Wikipedia a litmus test and a secondary source (which is the crux of the whole issue), it would also have its own value within the Webcomics community by creating an information depot of sorts.<br /><br />I personally believe that is the best way to satisfy everyone's concerns. However, the impetus for such a move has to come from the Webcomics community; it cannot come from Wikipedia. Since I really have no idea how it would be better to distribute that proposal to your community, or even if doing this here would be even seen, I'll leave the details to you, Howard, to figure that out. In either case, I'd really like for all of you to consider this seriously, not only for the benefit to Wikipedia, but more importantly, for the benefit to all of you.<br /><br />Hopefully the unnecessary dispute between both of our communities can be solved via dialog and innovative solutions. It has dragged on far too long.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Titoxd<br />English Wikipedia administratorTitoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-27189264383899749982007-10-15T06:24:00.000+00:002007-10-15T06:53:48.041+00:00On quality, assessments, and worse thingsA very, <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> common discussion nowadays on Wikipedia is the now-famous "Quantity vs. Quality" debate. At the epicenter of these discussions is the concept of <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quality">quality</a> itself, and how it can be measured, and best recognized.<br /><br />As it is generally agreed that Wikipedia's quality review system is good, but not featured (heh), there are several discussions regarding the ways the different quality verification systems (in no particular order, they are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_articles">Good Articles</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Peer_review">Peer Review</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/WikiProject#Assessment">WikiProject Reviews</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_articles">Featured Articles</a>) tie together, and how to improve them. Outside my usual spiel (GA and FA are well-established processes, neither one will go away, and PR's reviews are scant to the point they make the page meaningless), I haven't had much input in the page, but I have been silently watching it. That said, it would be a crime against humanity to not reproduce <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Content_review/workshop&diff=164220238&oldid=164208740">this post by Martin Walker</a>, known outside the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team">WP:1.0</a> cabal as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Walkerma">Walkerma</a>. As it has become his custom, he hits the nail on the head about the current state of affairs in Wikipedia's quality system.<br /><br />------<span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size:85%;">All too often quality is presented as being a single "dimension" - going from "---- awful" to "perfect". But it's much more complicated than that. I'd like to lay out how I see it - others may see it differently, but I think any delineation should hopefully clarify things a bit. I'm not trying to stimulate a huge discussion (though by all means discuss it if you think it useful!), rather just show the lay of the land beyond the PR and GA/FA aspects discussed above. I just think that before we change the system we need to define the parameters clearly. The parameters mainly fall into two main categories: <i><b>Content</b></i> (which requires good knowledge of the topic) and <i><b>Style </b></i></span> (<span style="font-size:85%;">which requires good knowledge of English and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MOS" title="WP:MOS">WP:MOS</a>)</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. Here are the parameters as I see them:</span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </p> <ol><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Content coverage</b>: In the early stage of article development, this is what is needed most of all. As the article matures it moves towards "comprehensive coverage" and this aspect becomes much less important. The best people for judging this are subject-experts.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Content quality</b>: The issues may be covered, but there are sloppy definitions or actual errors. Again, subject-experts are critical here - preferably experts with good access to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:RS" title="WP:RS">reliable sources</a>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Content trustworthiness</b>: The article may be beautifully written and absolutely correct factually - but if there are no clear citations from reliable sources, how can I know that? Many of our early FAs fall into this category. Also see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Flagged_revisions/Quality_versions" title="Wikipedia:Flagged revisions/Quality versions">Quality versions</a> proposal.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:NPOV" title="WP:NPOV">NPOV</a></b>: Related to trustworthiness, but you can still write a biased piece that is well cited. Requires a consensus from several subject-experts, IMHO.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Article scope</b>: Sometimes a topic is better covered fairly broadly, sometimes it's better to break it up into sub-articles, usually with a top-level article using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:SS" title="WP:SS">summary style</a>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Article organisation and flow</b>: The article may be well written and contain all the important content, yet it looks like it was written by a committee (in effect, it was!). It's a side effect of the fact that our articles are written by many people, often in small disjointed pieces. Needs one or two dedicated author(s) - a subject-expert and someone who can write well.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Quality of writing</b>: Issues here include poor grammar, spelling, verbosity, poor use of paragraphs, etc. Good copyeditors needed here.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Level of writing</b>: A popular or general topic like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom" title="Atom">atom</a> will need to be accessible to a popular, general audience. In a more specialized article like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_carbene" title="Persistent carbene">Persistent carbene</a>, it would be ridiculous to explain what an electron is. Ideally needs a subject-expert who can write well.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Aesthetics</b>: Sometimes a nice diagram can really help, or a photograph can bring an article to life. Hard to quantify!</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Compliance with house style</b>: The article may be perfect in every way, but have a <i>Heading Like This</i> instead of <i>One like this</i>, or lack the before units, etc. Requires someone with a good knowledge of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MOS" title="WP:MOS">WP:MOS</a>.</span></li></ol> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Article length</b> is often informally used as a parameter, but it's largely based on three of the above: Content coverage, Scope and Quality of writing (specifically the conciseness/verbosity part). This is a tricky issue when assessing an article for quality - we may say, "It's long, so it must be pretty comprehensive" but it may fail to cover major aspects and just be very long-winded. If the scope is very narrow it may be hard to make it long enough to get on the radar screen for GAN/FAC - for example, compare <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvis_Island" title="Jarvis Island">Jarvis Island</a> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>.</span></p> <dl style="font-weight: bold;"><dt><span style="font-size:85%;">Review types</span></dt></dl> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">When assessments are performed, the <i>general</i> reviewer can best judge the <i>Style</i> parameters: Quality of writing, Level of writing, Aesthetics, House style and perhaps Article organisation/flow. Therefore GAN and FAC (with mainly general reviewers) focus on these aspects. This works usually because by the time an article reaches this point it usually has most of the content aspects covered. Meanwhile the WikiProjects help to ensure that the <i>Content </i>parameters are covered: Content Coverage and Quality, Trustworthiness, NPOV and perhaps Article Scope and Organisation. That is why Stub/Start/B/A reviews mainly focus on those aspects, and it explains why an article can be A-Class while failing GA (or vice versa). Content issues are most important in the early stages of an article's development, so it is appropriate that much of the assessment occurs at the Stub/Start/B level. Nevertheless, I think the A-Class review system such as is done at</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MILHIST" title="WP:MILHIST">WP:MILHIST</a> is extremely valuable as a form of expert peer review, because it ensures that the content aspects are all well covered before the general reviewers at FAC even see it. This is analagous to peer review for scientific publication, before the house style and grammar issues are cleaned up by the copyeditors working for the publisher.</span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Soon we will have a third main "category" to worry about - the specific article <b>Version</b> - but let's leave that until <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:FLR" title="WP:FLR">WP:FLR</a> becomes a reality (next year?)!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Well, I probably missed a few things, but I think it's important to try and lay these things out. It's especially important to realise that Content issues and Style issues are different "beasts" requiring different types of review. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Walkerma" title="User:Walkerma">Walkerma</a> 05:57, 13 October 2007 (UTC)</span></p>------<br /><br />The only thing I may add is the need for true external verification by vetted experts, done completely outside Wikipedia. I'm talking about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:External_peer_review/Nature_December_2005/Errors"><span style="font-style: italic;">Nature</span></a>-like verification, but on a per-article basis. Unfortunately, that is probably a long way off. That said, getting <a href="http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/2006/nov2006/">Wikipedia cited in high-profile subject publications</a> in a few subjects should help. We just need to do that more.<br /><br />What I'd like is for an outreach campaign, showing professors how much Wikipedia articles are used, and how important it is for the articles to be accurate. With internal style review, WikiProject content verification, and external expert vetting, we'd get the quality trifecta.<br /><br />~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-71647388755386501802007-10-13T05:03:00.000+00:002007-10-13T05:07:07.034+00:00Wiki is not paper... or is it?Usually you hear that Wikipedia not being paper is an advantage, because that makes the encyclopedia editable. You've been lied to.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee6/titoxd_wikimedia/blah.png?t=1192251527"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee6/titoxd_wikimedia/blah.png?t=1192251527" alt="" border="0" /></a>Wikipedia: the encyclopedia you can write in, and not feel bad about it!<br /><br />~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-434299696902389982007-09-16T09:10:00.000+00:002007-09-16T09:36:08.371+00:00Article template standardizationWell, for a while now, there have been grumblings about standardizing article tags (such as {{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Unreferenced">unreferenced</a>}}, {{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:POV">POV</a>}}, {{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Current">current</a>}}, {{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Afd">afd</a>}}, and the many other tags that grace our articles), but they all had been grumblings so far...<br /><br />A couple of days ago, though, these grumblings were implemented. They look pretty cool, by the way. Have a look at them here:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_templates">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_templates</a><br /><br />Of course, like in every project of this magnitude, my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Raul654/Raul%27s_laws">First Law of Wikipedia</a> has already proven itself true, but well, that was to be expected. Anyways, as usual, comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome, even though I didn't actually do anything in this proposal. ;)<br /><br />~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5258260225124673854.post-77467962818005374502007-09-08T05:48:00.000+00:002007-09-08T05:53:58.575+00:00NCDC links to us, w00t!Well, for the last few hurricane seasons, the <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/">National Climatic Data Center</a> has been linking to the Wikipedia articles about the Atlantic hurricane seasons. Not only that, but they've been also using some of our in-house track map output. Just compare these links:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/2007/aug/dean-track.png">http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/2007/aug/dean-track.png<br /></a><br /><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dean_2007_track.png">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dean_2007_track.png</a><br /><br />Cool, huh? :)<br /><br />~~~~Titoxdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15371052521497564077noreply@blogger.com0