[Life] New flat and Wifi extension

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Here comes some photos of the new flat we occupy with Maki, after a Ikea triathlon (1 day shopping, 1 day building, 1 day enjoying), on the same building of the office, just 3 floors below:

Côté Salon

Côté bureau

Wifi connection needed a small boost, Pringles cans reflectors are doing a great job.

Wifi Pringles antenna

We’ve got now a repeater bridge at home, and just in case, you can download the nvram config backup (WPA mode, password is xxxxxx).

Explain it to your dog

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I’ve been reading this morning an excellent piece of science about quantum physic, with this guy explaining to his dog the many-world quantum theory:

I’m sitting at the computer typing, when the dog bumps up against my legs. I look down, and she’s sniffing the floor around my feet intently.
« What are you doing down there? »
« I’m looking for steak! » she says, wagging her tail hopefully.
« I’m pretty certain that there’s no steak down there, » I say. « I’ve never eaten steak at the computer, and I’ve certainly never dropped any on the floor. »
« You did in some universe, » she says, still sniffing.
I sigh. « I’m going to move the quantum physics books to a higher shelf, so you can’t reach them. »

Check at his blog for more dog-science explanation.

CopperIt looks like it’s far more understandable when you explain it to your dog, a bit like Calvin and Hobbes explain life.

By the way, check this other comic artists, also speaking to his dog and explaining tiny bits of life: Copper

Quoting: Less programming, more skills

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A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

Source: Moishe Lettvin

March 2007: first month out

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Life

March has been a month out, the experiement I’d like to continue during coming years. It’s surely a bit tiring, spending only 10 days out of 30 at a place called “home”, but things to see are so infinites that I could have spent these 10 days out to another place to discover/enjoy new things.

First in Spain, to burn a perfectly ‘lucky’ christmas gift, and to visit David&Maria from Las Indias. 10 days of pure blossom, confronting ideas with freakies living in the same strange world, one foot in reality, one foot in virtuality. Meeting David&Sarah from San Fransisco, ad discover with them inner-Spain, small corners of a country unavailable to common tourists. That have been a great time to start this new travel, joining a new team to continue on the trip, and getting to understand this “Feel Happy” philosophy.

The time to wash my clothes back to Toulouse, and time to take another train to Lyon to visit Fred. Now it’s time to learn how to live in a new lifestyle: meeting people during the day, leaving them to sleep at night while working, and having breakfast with them in the morning before to go to sleep while they work during the day. Feeling great, until the nights where you’ve drink so much that you’re not able to do anything useful in the night when everybody else is sleeping 🙂 And as typical after meeting Fred, I’m back from Lyon with a lot of life’s lessons to put my theeth on, things are going forward.

Movies

The Fountain: this movie has been so ravaging that it shadows all other movies watched during this month. I couldn’t recommend it due to particular conditions while watching it, and it would be this kind of movie I’ll respect without being able to watch it again in the same conditions.
(click to view trailer)

Music

Artists of the month:

Radio this month, Seattle centric:

Books

  • Louves de Mer: first book I’ve found about XVI’s century pirates, and as all novels I love, main characters are women. The story of 2 women evolving in a man world, finding their way to the top. Love, passion, strange feelings in disguise when people have to trust their hearth to discover the truth below the appearance.
  • Nous les Dieux by B. Weber: to read
  • Ravage by R. Barjavel: to read

Best-of January 2007

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I’d like to remember at the end of this year what made my time.

Life

Sleep log: at last I can have a quick-view on my sleep pattern, which was somtimes really un-regulated this last month. Simple method to do it, every morning on the monthly calendar inside my moleskine agenda, I color a little grey bar inside the day cell.

Freelance launching: would it be done at last? I’ve been procastinating the legal registration process during all the month, finding perfect excuses with my willing to live abroad in the coming year.

German courses: could have been done before, but not without this christmas super-motivation-boots to go living in Berlin next summer. At the rate of one hour a day, which is really hard to maintain, I could be ready with some basic skills at the right time. Current level: basic understanding when reading a text.

One from me, one for youHand-crafting projects: I always need to do something from my hand: code and crafts. After origami last month that occupied some sleepless nights, time for duct-tape skills. Not really fond of it, I’m now looking some something a little bit more geekier like a vibrobot (solar powered).

Movies

Some people come to this blog just because of movie listing already existing in previous posts.

ThumbsuckerHerr LehmannCashbackPrête-moi ta main

Thumbsucker: the typical kind of movie I really like: unknow actors, american style, sub-urban life with people having everyday-lik problems.

Herr Lehmann: just to know a little bit more about life before the berlin wall collapsed. Funny to retrieve some scene I’ve been visiting last month, hearing about some neighborhood. But I haven’t understand anything about hte recurring ‘electrolyte’ joke during the movie, if someone can help?

Cashback: everyday-life in another country: UK, a student taking a small job in a Sainsbury’s supermarket, navigating in thoughts during his sleepless hours. Good fun, and lots of nice reflexion about love.
This movie was a short first, released in 2004. If you have 15 minutes free, you can watch it on YouTube.

Prête-moi ta main: I usually do not go to watch this kind of comedian french movie, probably because of some cheesy memories from the 90’s. I feared a bit for this one, but I was really full of laught during the movie 🙂 Lots of french clichés, with Alain Chabat as fun as he can be, and the mysteriously attractive Charlotte Gainsburg.

Music

Joshua RadinRegina SpektorWax Tailor

Joshua Rabin: listened more than once during first weeks of January, begin to stop the addiction after getting ot the fact that it was really sticking on my mood. A music for to remember this month feelings.

Regina Spektor: send by Bertrand, a nice female vocalist with some great games in her songs.

Wax Tailor: discovered by Chris on her berlin-radio, they really sounds like The Avalanches with some tv/movie voice mixed inside electonic music.
You can listen their whole album on their website: http://www.waxtailor.com/

Reading

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, Chris favorite book. A witch-daughter not at her place in a Royal court, finding her way in the art of dragon-slaying. Always nice to know how to manage draong affaire!

The Pursuit of Emptiness by John Perry Barlow. The kind of text I’d like to read every few month to get back on rails about my life. Some really powerful quotes inside, just to ridiculize most of our westerners’ way of life.

Budget Tips for Berlin

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Metro

Can be really expensive if not really well planned, as everything else.

  • single: 2.1€
  • daily: 5.8€
  • weekly: 25€

Credit Cards

They are not working everywhere (only shops), it’s better to have cash in the wallet all the time.

Life tips

Beers and eating-out are really cheap.
At disco, when you take a bottle drink, they’ll give you a token. Bring it back with the empty bottle to get your deposit back.