Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe

While speaking with my girlfriend about a short-stories book I remembered one of the best pieces of English literature I know of, Raven from Edgar Allan Poe. I had read a translation to Catalan before and I really liked it, but after reading the original version I am speechless. The special use of alliterations and rhymes make a very musical yet powerful poem, one you have to read on a dark night with the only light of a candle when a thunderstorm is pounding outside the window. For those who have never read it or what to read it again here is a link to it and the first paragraph so you want to continue reading.

You can find the rest of it here: The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ubuntu 8.04, at last a Linux for Windowers

Even though it was released some weeks ago I hadn't had time to install and test the new Ubuntu release known as Hardy Heron. I don't have a lot of experience working with Linux environments, I used to have Kubuntu 7 installed in my computer, but a re-installation of Windows deleted the entrance paths to it and I had to format it, but never bothered to install it again. Apart of that I have been working during the last year with a command-based Linux version -I don't know which one- at the university. The problem was that I found Windows easier to use and since I've grown accustomed to it I found Linux too much of a change.

But not anymore. In my opinion the new release of Ubuntu will be the good one to allow the transfer of users from Windows to Linux. The graphical interface is amazing, is very intuitive to use, it's available in many languages (like Catalan :)) and it comes with all the applications any standard user may need, like an Instant Messenger, Firefox 3, text processor, spreadsheet, sideshow editor, many games and a lot of other things. I have fallen in love with it. I run it from an external USB HDD and works perfectly and fast (I would like to see Windows doing the same), in fact I am typing this post in my Ubuntu environment and no problems at all.

Even though I really like it and I have good feeling about its success it still has some issues other Linux versions have, like some computers don't seem to like having Linux in them (I am lucky because mine was specifically designed to work perfectly with both OS) or that a lot of software it is still designed to work only with Windows and not with Linux. I any case, a great step forward.

You can download Ubuntu by clicking here. Here you can see a demonstration of how it looks before you choose to install it (this video uses the compiz extension, but is the same one I use and it is very easy to install):

Highlands breakdown

On Sunday we headed towards the Scottish Highlands to spend some days visiting a part of Scotland we hadn't seen yet. The trip was going great, we visited the Devil's Elbow, Balmoral Castle, Aberdeen, Peterhead and when we were heading towards Inverness we stopped for a second in Burghead, a little town close to Elgin. The exact point where we stopped can be seen in the map below. We stopped here because there is a Picti Fort right at the left. The problem is that the fort is not even ruins, it says it was a fort and you have to believe so, because there was nothing which resembled a fort.

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When I tried to lock the car the central locking went on and off very fast, and when I tried to close it again the remote key didn't work. I thought it was the battery of the key, so I didn't worry about it. After seeing the grass field supposed to be a fort I headed back to the car and tried to start it. And from there everything went wrong. The car wouldn't start. I tried to push the car down a slope and start by changing gears, but it wouldn't start either. I tried for a while and when I gave up I called my road assistance service.

My road assistance is given by the Catalan company RACC and I just love the service they give, it is just awesome, I highly recommend it. They sent me two tow trucks, one to try to fix the breakdown on the spot (it was a blown fuse and he didn't have one) and another one to tow me to Inverness and to find a hotel.

When I woke up in the morning I walked to Ness Motors Inverness, the official Renault service in Inverness. When they told me they were full for the day so they could not help me, maybe the next day or the other I freaked out, I thought I would stay forever stuck in Inverness. At noon I had to buy another night in the hotel and I just didn't want to spend the whole week up there, so I phoned Ness motors every two ours begging to look at the car and fix it, because I was in a hurry and it was not a major failure. Before they closed I popped by and ask for my car. I was ready to get mad and then they gave me my car back, and fixed, I was so happy I wanted to kiss the car when I sat back in. The next day we came back to Edinburgh.

I want to finish by thanking a good Samaritan who helped me when I first realised the car was broken in Burghead. He was passing by and I asked him where could I find a mechanic. He told me the town's mechanic was closed, but a while after leaving he came back and asked us if we wanted to go spend the night at his house. I refused his offer, but I was extremely thankful to him. I don't know your name, but thank you!

Side effects of the London Congestion Charge

As I said before in the blog, I have recently visited London. I had already been there some years ago, when no Congestion Charge was applied and the law has really changed the looks of the streets. For those who ignore what the Congestion Charge is, just say that is a fee for some motorists travelling within those parts of London designated as the Congestion Charge Zone.

This law has created a funny situation. Now the centre of London is posher than ever before since only rich people can afford to pay the tax on a daily bases. I was amazed by the number of Mercedes Class S parked around the city, unbelievable, is there an offer that if you buy three the fourth is free?. Another side effect of the law is that electric and hybrid cars are exempt of paying it, so the city is full of Toyota Prius and some sort of wee car called G-Whiz, an electrical and quite ridiculous car. Finally, I was amazed by the amount of mopeds ad motorcycles around. Since they don't have to pay the tax many people has chosen to circulate by motorcycle. It's funny, because I had never seen so many motorcycles on a northern Europe city (even though is far from the numbers of Barcelona). In conclusion, many times laws have weird side-effects that can deeply change the looks of a city.

The loneliness of Zapatero

In Catalonia (and in half of the world) to get even the crappiest jobs some sort of foreign language knowledge is required. This rule applies to all sorts of jobs except to politicians, because most Catalan and Spaniard politicians are monolingual. The president of Catalonia only speaks Spanish, not even Catalan, which he is learning at the moment, even though he has lived in Catalonia almost all his life. The former president Aznar was ridiculous when he tried to speak English, but his successor Zapatero is as bad or worse. He only speaks Spanish, nothing else. I wonder why there isn't a list of minimum requirements to be president of a country and I have to study like crazy to find a good job in the future. I speak, read, and understand four languages, why can't politicians do the same.

But Zapatero (as Aznar, Gonzalez or Montilla) has found out what happens if you are half-illiterated and you become a ruler, you end up being the target of all jokes. Just look at the following videos, in the first one, recorded yesterday he is isolated from all the NATO leaders because he is not able to communicate with any of them. Indeed a very useful country representative. The other two videos don't need comments.

Nintenband

In the US, is worth going to watch live sport -it doesn't matter if it is football, basketball or baseball- just to see the half-time shows, they are amazing. When I lived in Texas I went to see a NBA, a NFL and a MLB games, and the half time shows were very entertaining, but nothing like the video I want to share today. This is something else. Is the UC band playing a tribute to the most important games of Nintendo's history.

So everything makes more sense, keep in mind that the camera recording it is on the other side of field, the band looks at the opposite side, so you have to imagine it as being upside-down. This means the top of the figures is at the bottom of the screen.

And now the explanation of the figures for all the people not as nerd as me. It starts with the recreation of Pong, the first video game, then moves to Tetris, to Mortal Kombat, to Pokemon, to the Legend of Zelda (the arrow by the triforce is the sword), to Mario Bros. 3 1st stage, to Super Mario Bros. Boos stage, to Mario Bros. 3 end of stage. Amazing.

London City Airport

Next Monday I'm going to London to have some days of holidays. I have already been to London once, but I flew there via Stansted airport. This time I'm going to one of the most curious airports I know of, the London City Airport. The weird thing of it is that it is right in the middle of the city, but not because the city has grown around it but because it was build there on porpoise. It is located by the Thames river and it is surrounded by water as you can see on the aerial picture provided. In addition to that, the runway is so short that only small planes are allowed to operate. Plus flights only run during the day to allow the neighbors of the surroundings to sleep calmly. I am looking forward to see it.


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Goodbye mr. Clarke

Today, with 90 years of age, one of the most famous science-fiction drivers of all time has died. Together with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke made a literary genre I love more popular and helped to introduce it to the popular culture. Of course his job wouldn't have been as successful without Stanley's Kubrick help, but even though his work has been vital to the history of Science-Fiction. His "2001: an space odyssey", both the film and the books are famous world wide and still a recurrent conversation theme. His personal live presents some shadows, like when he was accused of being a paedophile, but it was never really proved.

An one think not many people know is that he invented the concept of the geostationary artificial satellites and its uses to telecomunications. His paper "Extra-Terrestrial Realys— Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?" published in Wireless World in 1945.

In any case, goodbye Mr. Clarke.

Figure-8 Racing

This afternoon I was watching a newly discovered channel, Men and Motors, and I watched the most crazy car race I had ever seen. It is called Figure-8 racing, and it consists on turning hundreds of times (the race I saw finished with around 450 turns done) around an eight shaped short track with powerful cars. The image on the right is a diagram of the track, with the crossing section highlighted. The crazy thing about this is that the crossing between the two directions is not made by a bridge but at the same level. As you may be thinking right know crashes are quite common.

Even though I didn't know the names of any of the racers the race was quite amusing and I enjoyed it. There was some serious driving skills and it is the first race I had ever seen where the pilots have to look around in an intersection in order to complete the turn.

By the way, as you may have already imagined the races are held in the USA, where else could people do this kind of racing...


I have added a video so you can see some Figure-8 Racing action:

I wish Vermeer, Dalí or Durero where alive

Nowadays artists have a range of creative possibilities greater than ever before in history, and not only because of the bigger individual liberties, but because of the growing range of techniques available. I keep thinking that if the greatest painters of history where alive today they would be able to do even more amazing things than when they were alive. It's a pity they have already kicked the bucket, because I'm sure they would freak us out with their creations. Anyway, nowadays there magicians of the Photoshop, the Fash or even the Paint(!) who will amuse us with their creations, and thanks to computing they can record their creative process to our enjoyment.

I cannot avoid showing three of my favourite paintings of all time, the geographer of Vermeer, the Christ of Dalí (which I happily admired when I went to Glasgow)and the Rhino of Durero:

An here comes the techno-artits, in this order, a master of the Photoshop which shows us how to draw Spiderman 3, a master of Flash which animates a Scene from the movie 300 and a master of Paint that draws a Subaru Impreza: