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November 7th, 2009 by muellijOEpardy at Easterhegg09
October 30th, 2009 by muelliI held a jOEpardy session at Easterhegg09! I guess, you know what a Jeopardy is, if not, have a look at the Wikipedia 
The people were entertained and hopefully learned something 
Sadly, the hardware didn’t really work 
The buzzer were somewhat broken so that we actually had to try to see (with our eyes) who pushed the button first. Funnily enough, I *did* test the setup extensively just 10 minutes before the gig! Very weird.
The Questions can be found here: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4. But it doesn’t make much sense without the jOEpardy software, unless you parse the XML on your own.
The software is a Java Application which was initially written by TriPhoenix! I haven’t written Java for a long time and I have to admit, that writing Java with Eclipse is actually fun! Eclipse is so smart and tightly integrated in the build process that it’s quite easy to write, build and debug. I wish there was such a good IDE for C or Python. Sadly, I think that Java Code is bloated although <2.500 LoC for a jOEpardy is not too bad I’d say
I actually thought I could release the jOEpardy code by now (and thus waited with this post…), but I still have to resolve copyright questions.
Free SMS
October 21st, 2009 by muelliThis could be interesting to anyone sending texts (SMS): In Ireland, I guess every operator has a so called webaccess which allows you to send up to a certain number of texts for free. Worldwide. That’s kinda handy because sending a SMS via normal GSM mode easily costs you 10ct. A data connection, however, should be much cheaper (around 4ct. with O2 Ireland, not even 1ct with Simyo in Germany). You only need credentials to log into their website, so no SIM card is (directly) needed.
Because using the web sucks you want to have a nice and clean interface which you can program and extend yourself. Luckily, there are at least two projects, helping you to send SMS comfortably.
One for your PC is o2sms which is really handy. It’s a Perl script and easily useable:
mkdir -p ~/svn/ ~/bin/ svn co https://o2sms.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/o2sms cat > ~/bin/o2sms <<EOF #!/bin/sh pushd ~/svn/o2sms/trunk/o2sms3/lib/ ../bin/o2sms $@ popd EOF
You have to have ~/bin/ in your path of course. I put the following in my /etc/profile:
if [ -d $HOME/bin ]; then PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH fi
If you don’t have a PC at hand, you will find Cabbage useful. It’s a J2ME application for you mobile phone and it’s quite easy to use.
You might even find an (semi) open wireless network using the J2ME app which calculates WEP Keys of Eircom routers, so that you don’t even have to spend the money on the data connection. The algorithm is describere here and you can find a Perl or Python, as well as a C++ implementation here.
On O2, you can send free SMS via normal GSM, so it would be a pity if you had to use the Webtexts. As I discovered that sending SMS via a serial connection is easy, I started to write PySMS. It’s still work in progress, but it actually parses your o2sms configuration file so that you can use send_sms instead of o2sms to send your SMS. To get it working right you might want to enter your phones Bluetooth address in /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf. Mine reads:
rfcomm2 {
bind yes;
device 00:FO:OB:AR:BA:ZZ;
channel 2;
comment "Mah Mobile";
}
Dunno exactly how to determine the channel, but I guess sdptool browse should show “Dial-Up Networking” as service name for the channel.
I’d really like to have a wrapper around send_sms and o2sms which decides for me whether it sends the SMS via GSM, Web or both. But my main problem, beside the lack of time, is that I can’t snoop on stdin to pass it to a second program afterwards. Since I don’t really know if stdin must be read, I can’t read it myself and just send it twice. Also, subprocess.Popen is not particucarly happy accepting anything else than stdin or a string. So if you have a solution to this problem, please show up
The next step is to write a simple webinterface against this o2sms library and have free SMS for everyone
Ireland, Blasphemy €25.000 and other rules
October 15th, 2009 by muelliI was rather shocked as I read this article about a law passing the Dáil which fines blasphemy with 25.000 Euro. If I didn’t know better I’d say this couldn’t happen in an European country, but astonishingly such things happen within the EU. Now I’m a bit afraid being Ireland as an atheist.
Freshly draught Guinness (~5€)
So yes, I moved to Dublin, Ireland to study at the DCU If you want to visit me, have lunch or a pint, don’t hesitate to ring me I haven’t seen so much of Ireland myself so far, but I’ve been into bloody cold Irish Sea…
Also, The Pirate Bay is blocked by Eircom, the largest ISP in Ireland. They use an IP based filter, not only a DNS based one. So they actually interfere with my communication which I assumed to be unconstitutional. But luckily, I have a tunnel set up which gives me free access to the world.
Cliff in Howth near Dublin
Besides the panic about the swine flu, another weird thing is Irish bureaucracy. My impression is that the people don’t really think beyond their utterly extensive and most of the times really stupid rules. For example, I tried to register at the University by paying 2000 Euros study fees. It failed because my credit card apparently has a limit of something less than that. The registry advised me to wire the money and print a screenshot of the online banking site. Of course I didn’t know a) how I could connect my laptop to the internet, b) how or where to print and c) log on to anything because I wasn’t even a student yet. Luckily, I have some friends at that university, that helped me out so I could finally register… It appears, that the rules are generally made to be ignored. They probably want to have them just in case they need to file a case against you. So as I applied at the university, I had been offered a conditional offer which was to be accepted by some specified date. I couldn’t, however, fulfill the condition and time to discuss that was running out. They told me that the date could generally be amended. I don’t think it’s good to have rules which are known to not be enforced and just needed to have something against you just in case…
The pubs in Dublin are great, although they have to close rather early, like around 02:00 o’clock. Also, you can’t get beer after 22:00 in a shop *sigh*. Yes, Irland might have a drinking problem, but treating everybody like a small child obviously doesn’t help it.
Beerprice dropped from ~20€ to 12€
New Heise Feeds
October 9th, 2009 by muelliEven after Heise updated its CMS it doesn’t deliver Atom Feeds with an abstract. I hope they’ll at least produce well formed XML… As I think the abstracts, which can be found on the main page or the mobile version, are quite handy, I wrote a parser which will generate an Atom feed with the teaser (and not the first paragraph of the article) built in. I couldn’t use MakeMyRSS not just because it prints an ad every month or so, but because I had the requirement to link to the print URLs instead of the web URLs (I don’t have that requirement anymore). But since MakeMyRSS is not free, I liked to have my own solution anyway Plus, it’s not written in Bash
You can find the Atom feed at http://muelli.cryptobitch.de/rss/heise-atom.xml or the parser here. But you’d be better off cloning the repository (hg clone http://hg.cryptobitch.de/geRSSicht/) because you can send me patches more easily
You’ll also find a parser for the adminstrative court of Hamburg and for Telepolis. All the news are in German though, but at least the Heise feed should be easily portable for The H…
Engrish
September 30th, 2009 by muelliAlright, the following stuff is probably only funny, if you know German and Germans a bit. At least I had to laugh a couple of times, so you might enjoy that as well
I received a PDF with some weird English translations of German idioms and I tried to extract the text information from that, so I stumbled upon a page explaining how to do OCR with free software on Linux. I got the best results using Tesseract with the German language set, but I had to refine the result (leaving some typos intact).
- that’s me sausage = ist mir wurst
- go where the pepper grows = geh hin wo der pfeffer wächst
- I think my pig whizzles = ich glaub mein schwein pfeift
- sorry, my english is under all pig = entschuldige, mein englisch ist unter aller sau
- now can come what want…i ready = letzt kann kommen was will, ich bin fertig
- I think I spider = ich glaub ich spinne
- the devil will i do = den teufel werd ich tun
- what too much is, is too much = was zu viel ist, ist zu viel
- my lovely mister singing club = mein lieber herr gesangsverein
- don’t walk me on the nerves = geh mir nicht auf die nerven
- come on…jump over your shadow = komm schon…spring ueber deinen schatten
- you walk me animally on the cookie = du gehts mir tierisch auf den keks
- there my hairs stand up to the mountain = da stehen mir die haare zu berge
- tell me nothing from the horse = erzaehl mir keinen vom pferd
- don’t ask after sunshine = trag nicht nach sonnenschein
- free like the motto: you me too = frei nach dem Motto, du mich auch
- I have the nose full = ich hab die nase voll
- lt’s not good cherry-eating with you = es ist nicht gut kirschen essen mit dir
- it’s going up like smiths cat = es geht ab wie Schmidts katze
- to thunderweather once more = zum Donnerwetter noch mal
- not from bad parents = nicht von schlechten eltern
- now it goes around the sausage = jetzt geht’s um die wurst
- there you on the woodway = da bist du auf dem holzweg
- good thing needs while = gut ding braucht weile
- holla the woodfairy = holla die waldfee
- we are sitting all in the same boot = wir sitzen alle im selben boot
- don’t make you a head = mach dlr keinen kopf
- there run me the water in the mouth together = da läuft rnlr das wasser im mund zusammen
- I understand just train-station = ich versteh nur bahnhof
- I hold it in head not out = ich halt’s im kopf nicht aus
- shame you what = scham dich was
- there we have the salad = da haben wir den salat
- end good, everything good = ende gut, alles gut
- zip you together = reiß dich zusammen
- now butter by the fishes = jetzt mal butter bei die flsche
- he made himself me nothing you nothing out of the dust — er machte sich mir nichts, dir nichts aus dem Staub
- I belive you have the ass open — ich glaub du hast den Arsch auf!
- you make me nothing for = du machst mir nichts vor
- that makes me so fast nobody after = das macht mir so schnell keiner nach
- I see black for you = ich seh schwarz fur dich
- so a pig-weather = so ein Sauwetter
- you are really the latest = du bist wirklich das letzte
- your are so a fear-rabbit = du bist so ein angsthase
- everybody dance after your nose = alle tanzen nach deiner nase
- known home luck alone = trautes Heim, Glueck allein
- I think I hear not right = Ich denk Ich hör nicht richtig
- that have you your so thought = das hast du dir so gedacht
- give not so on = gib nicht so an
- heaven, ass and thread! = Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn’
- of again see = auf wiedersehen
- Human Meier = Mensch Meier
- now we sit quite beautiful in the ink = jetzt sitzen wir ganz schoen in der Tinte
- you have not more all cups in the board = du hast nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank
- around heavens will = um Himmels willen
- you are heavy in order = du bist schwer in Ordnung
- l wish you what = ich wünsch dir was
- she had a circleroundbreakdown = sie hatte einen kreislaufzusammenbruch
- you are a blackdriver = du bist ein schwarzfahrer
- I know me here out = ich kenn mich hier aus
- l fell from all clouds = Ich fiel aus allen Wolken
- that I not laugh = das ich nicht lache
- no one can reach me the water = niemand kann mir das wasser relchen
- that’s absolut afterfullpullable = das ist absolut nachvollziehbar
- give good eight = gib gut acht
- not the yellow of the egg = nicht das gelbe vom Ei
- come good home = komm gut heim
- evererything in the green area = alles im gruenen bererch
- I die for Blackforrestcherrycake = Ich sterbe fuer Schwarzwalderkirschtorte
- how too always = wie auch immer
- I make you ready! = Ich mach dlch fertig!
- I laugh me death = ich lach mich tot
- it walks me icecold the back down = es lauft mir eiskalt den rücken runter
- always with the silence = Immer mit der Ruhe
- that’s one-wall-free = das Ist einwandfrei
- I’m foxdevilswild = lch bin fuchsteufelswild
- here goes the mail off = hier geht die post ab
- me goes a light on = mir geht ein licht auf
- it‘s highest railway = es ist hoechste Eisenbahn
Universal Parcel Tracking with BoxOh.com
September 25th, 2009 by muelliAgain, this is a quick reminder for myself and I want to share it with you.
There is an interesting webservice which tracks nearly all your (read: mine) parcels. It also offers an RSS feed and maps
The service is available under http://boxoh.com/
CCC Artwork
September 20th, 2009 by muelliThere are several images related to the CCC which I looked for for quite some time. Probably the oldest is the Pesthoernchen (also as SVG):
The Pesthoernchen
While you can get the image above from the official Logos, you can’t get the lower ones (yet): Sterntastatur from 18C3 (Hacking Is Not A Crime) also as SVG:
Sterntastatur - Logo of the 18C3
You might like the inverted version (also as SVG): 
There is a modified version which aims to be more like the original RAF logo by mimicking a shotgun (also a SVG):
Sterntastatur2 - More like the RAF logo
Hacking Is Not A CrimeHacking Is Not A Crime
Bundestagswahl 2009 – Rette deine Freiheit!
September 16th, 2009 by muelliBald sind Bundestagswahlen und Blumentopf moechten dich mit einem Video zur Wahl motivieren:
Und zur Entscheidungsfindung empfehle ich Rette deine Freiheit, ein wirklich sehr gelungenes Video:
Aber Obacht: Die offensichtliche Empfehlung, die FDP zu waehlen, ist nicht vor dem Hintergrund einer schwarz-gelben Koalition nicht schlau, denn die FDP hat angekuendigt, nur gegen das Zensurgesetz vorzugehen, wenn sie nicht an der Regierung beteiligt sind. Aber auch sonst gaebe es mit der FDP nicht so viel zu lachen.
Eine andere Entscheidungshilfe kann die Uebersicht der Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) sein: Auf einer Wikiseite werden Positionen der Abgeordneten zu Freier Software gesammelt. Ein sehr interessantes Projekt.
Noch ein schoenes Video vom selben Macher ist Du bist Terrorist:
Wenn du den Film gut findest, dann vote fuer ihn im Bitfilmfestival Voting!
Wir haben die Kraft! Unser Land kann mehr!
PS: Sorry fuer das einbinden von YouTube, wenn du eine freie Alternative kennst, sag bescheid!
Making posters with PosteRazor
September 13th, 2009 by muelliI had to create a huge poster out of an image. The normal way you do that is to somehow prepare many DIN A4 sheets, so you have to enlarge a given image, cut it into many pieces, probably add some padding and if you’re lucky, you get your PDFs you can print.
But how do you actually do this? I used to use psresize and friends because I just wasn’t aware of anything more useful. Of course, dealing with psresize, psnup etc wasn’t very comfortable and I rarely was successful. I remember that I’ve asked a friend of mine to do it for me several times in the past. He owned a Mac and it was rather comfortable with those authoring tools. I began using OpenOffice to create those posters, but it really is uncomfortable: You have to remember which cutout you’ve used in the previous page, then move the image within the page and hope that you match the previous page. Needless to say, that this takes a considerable amount of time.
I always wanted to have a tool which works like this: makeposter --format=DINA0 < input.png > poster.pdf It would scale the image, cut it, add padding for glueing and produce several pages in a single PDF.
I now was told about PosteRazor! An incredibly useful tool to do more or less the stuff I want. It is free software and pretty easy to use. It uses neither Gtk+ nor Qt. Instead, Fulltick is used to build the GUI. I have never heard of it, but it’s okay. The widgets are not as beautiful as Gtk’s and the filechooser is especially bad, but the rest seems to be fine. So it serves almost every need I have
Awesome, isn’t it? I mean not just that it’s really easy, and you have your own poster in five minutes including printing! They even have extremely good marketing!
